FARC/Venezuela/Equador connections proven
Photo from the Miami Herald/AP/Doris Ochoa
An alleged rebel of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, center, is carried from an Ecuadorian Army helicopter as she arrives, after being evacuated from the combat area, at a military base in Lago Agrio, Ecuador, Sunday.
Yesterday I wrote about the threats Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez made against the Colombian government for their cross-border attack in Ecuador to kill a top leader of the Armed Revolutionary Front of Colombia (FARC). Chavez called Colombia the “Israel of Latin America” and threatened to “liberate” the people of Colombia from the Uribe government while Chavez and Rafael Correa of Ecuador mobilized their forces to their respective frontiers with Colombia.
Well, the Washington Times’ Martin Arostegui reports this morning that Chavez has good reason to bring his country to the brink of war – Colombian troops have discovered records of FARC links to the Chavez and Correa governments;
Colombia’s government said yesterday documents found in a jungle camp in Ecuador where Colombia troops killed Mr. Reyes showed ties between the FARC rebels and Mr. Correa, including contacts with his government about political proposals.
Police Cmdr. Gen. Oscar Naranjo said documents found in computers belonging to Mr. Reyes showed contacts between a top Correa government minister and the FARC commander to discuss political proposals and projects on the frontier.
“The questions raised by these documents need concrete answers,” Gen. Naranjo said. “What is the state of relations between the Ecuadorean government and a terrorist group like the FARC.”
Mr. Uribe has often accused the FARC of using Venezuelan and Ecuadorean territory as safe havens from military attacks.
According to the Miami Herald, Chavez also called for a moment of silence to honor the passing of FARC’s second-in-command Raul Reyes who was killed in Colombia’s cross-border raid;
Chávez also asked for a moment of silence to honor the slain FARC leader, killed along with 16 other guerrillas. ”We pay tribute to a true revolutionary, who was Raúl Reyes,” Chávez said, calling him a “good revolutionary.”
Yeah, good revolutionary who has directed the murder of thousands of innocent Colombians. If there was a terrorist group attacking Venezuela the way FARC has for 40 years, I doubt Chavez would be as charitable.
Chávez didn’t spare any words Sunday in his verbal assault on Uribe, calling him ”a criminal, a Mafia boss, a paramilitary-man” and saying that he directs a “narco-government.”
If Colombian troops crossed into Venezuela to pursue the FARC, Chávez warned, ”I’ll send some Sukhois” — Russian warplanes recently purchased by Venezuela.
The Colombian government did not reply to Chávez on Sunday but reinforced security at shopping malls and public meeting places to guard against a possible FARC reprisal. Uribe and the high military command attended the funeral of the lone Colombian soldier who died in the attack against the FARC.
Katy at Caracas Chronicles writes;
Let’s hope cool heads prevail and that the Colombian government continues to ignore Chávez. If there is a war, the losers will be the Venezuelan people, specially those who live close to the border, whose day-to-day problems once again take the backseat to Chávez’s obsession to see the FARC triumph in Colombia
Daniel at Venezuela News and Views reports that he saw nor heard any troop movements in Venezuela yesterday, but Chavez’ reaction betrayed the truth about what he has denied in the past;
This is of course a grievous mistake on his part because his subconscious betrayed him: there must be indeed reasons for Uribe to order police actions on the Venezuela borders. With this simple menace Chavez in fact admits that the Venezuelan border is nothing more than the rest area of the FARC guerrillas and that these ones roam around in Venezuela. We already knew that, of course, and for memory just the case of Granda should be mentioned. But Chavez yesterday implied that the FARC operates freely in Venezuela and that he is protecting them and that he supports these terrorists and drug traffickers enough to go to war for them.
Tomas Sancio at Venezuelan Politics asks two important questions that Chavez himself needs to find the answer to before he commits himself to a war with Colombia;
Two questions for us Venezuelans: a) would we be willing to die to defend the FARC? and b) could we stand a Colombian embargo of food and medicines? Chávez better leave this as a rant and send troops to the border to protect Venezuelans from being kidnapped from the FARC instead of defending these murderers.
From another Venezuelan blog, The Devil’s Excrement;
The fact is that in this case, Chavez really blew it in a very definitive manner. He is taking the side of the FARC in a more open fashion. Which is a product of his deeper affinities with the guerrilla and also, due to his tactical political needs, after his defeat in the December referendum and in the face of critical elections next November, in the middle of an economic situation that becomes each day more unmanageable. Chavez seems to be full of reasons to escalate his confrontation with Colombia.
The Real Cuba (h/t Babalu Blog) reports on a press conference held by the Colombian government this morning;
There are several documents signed by Reyes and one of Correa’s ministers.
One of the documents revealed that Correa agreed to get rid of any chief of police who didn’t sympathize with the Colombian guerrillas.
Colombia has asked the Ecuadorian government to explain its relationship with the terrorist group, saying that it compromises Colombia’s security.
In a perfect world, Chavez would be asking Correa the same questions. Gateway Pundit has more news and photos from yesterday as well as a report that Correa has had a press conference in Quito on the subject this morning. CNN reports that Correa has withdrawn his diplomat from Bogota, as well.
Photo from APF/Getty/CNN
AP reports from Correa’s news conference;
“There is no justification,” Correa said Sunday night, snubbing an earlier announcement from Colombia that it would apologize for the military incursion.
Chavez called the killing of rebel leader and spokesman Raul Reyes and 16 other guerrillas on Saturday an attack by a “terrorist state,” saying it shows Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is a “criminal.”
Um, Hugo, a terrorist state shelters terrorists, not kills terrorists. The Colombian Defense Minister explained the situation that lead to Reyes’ death (AP/Washington Examiner link);
Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said military commandos, tracking Reyes through an informant, first bombed a camp on the Colombian side of the Ecuadorean border. He said the troops came under fire from across the border in Ecuador and encountered Reyes’ body when they overran that camp.
So the Colombian troops were attacked from Ecuador – sounds like the restrictions the Democrats put on our troops during the Vietnam War when they were attacked from Cambodia and forbidden to defend themselves.
Category: Foreign Policy, Hugo Chavez, Politics
