Wolking’s World

If you’ve visited Drudge lately, you know he has this story up in developing, red multi-headline fashion. But just how many average, American Idol-watching Americans know the continent directly south of us is on the brink of war, one we could end up playing a large role in? My guess is not many.

The brewing tensions have simple origins. The Colombian government has long been fighting terrorist rebels financed primarily by the the control and sale of cocaine. Per Wikipedia, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC) ”has proclaimed itself as a politico-military Marxist-Leninist organization of Bolivarian inspiration.” Over the years, they’ve worked with Irish bomb-makers, attacked civilians, taken and executed hostages, kidnapped and ransomed children of influential Colombian businessmen and landowners, planted landmines, and pretty much conducted themselves as the South American version of al-Qaeda.

So on March 1st, 2008, when Colombian military operations just inside the border of neighboring Ecuador succeeded in ending the life of FARC’s number two guy, Raúl Reyes, and 16 other terrorist guerrillas, it was a big deal.

Hugo Chavez, leftist dictator of Venezuela, almost immediately ordered his military, including tanks, to the Colombian border, saying Colombia had violated Ecuador’s sovereignty and was just an arm of the evil US government. Ecuador also moved troops to the border, and both countries withdrew their diplomats.

“This is something very serious. This could be the start of a war in South America,” Chavez said. He warned Colombian President Alvaro Uribe: “If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I’ll send some Sukhois”—Russian warplanes recently bought by Venezuela.

And of course, no support of terrorism is complete without blaming your opponents of being the true terrorists.

“Colombia is a terrorist state, a subject of the biggest terrorist in the world, the United States government, and all of its imperialist apparatus,” Chavez said to applause.

The US response seems to highlight Hugo’s increasingly apparent mental instability, not to mention his addiction to unrefined cocaine.

Speaking in Texas, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said officials were monitoring the situation.

“This is an odd reaction by Venezuela to Colombia’s efforts against the FARC, a terrorist organization that continues to hold Colombians, Americans and others hostage,” Johndroe said.

Would we get involved if war is declared on Colombia? Yes.

The U.S. would almost certainly come to Colombia’s aid if oil-rich Venezuela launched an invasion. But Washington-based diplomats played down the brouhaha and said it might be no more than bluster from Chavez, an outspoken opponent of the U.S.

However, Pentagon sources said Colombia had been warned not to allow its hunt for Farc rebels to cross Venezuela’s borders.

Over the last few weeks President Chavez, who is very close to new Cuban President Raul Castro, has been in negotiations with Farc leaders and has persuaded them to hand over some of the hostages they have been holding for years.

While the US has bitterly deteriorating relations with Venezuela it has recently improved ties to Colombia and has troops in that country helping in the fight against the massive illicit cocaine trade.

But the big news today is that documents recovered from inside the bombed FARC compound show Chavez is supporting them financially. Oops.

Colombia responded on Monday with charges that documents found at a bombed rebel camp link President Hugo Chavez to the guerrillas.

Colombia’s police chief, Gen. Oscar Naranjo, said documents recovered from a slain rebel leader’s computer indicate Chavez recently sent $300 million to Colombian guerrillas. He said another document indicates the rebels sent money to Chavez when he was a jailed coup leader more than a decade ago.

Naranjo said the files were recovered from a laptop owned by the rebel known as Raul Reyes, who was killed Saturday in a Colombian commando raid on a camp just across the border in Ecuador.

“A note recovered from Raul Reyes speaks of how grateful Chavez was for the 100 million pesos (about $150,000 at the time) that the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, delivered to Chavez when he was in prison,” Naranjo told a news conference in Bogota.

Babalu Blog asks the appropriate questions.

So, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is now funding drug runners. Of course, most folks already knew this, but the proof had never materialized. Will the United Nations stay mum over the fact that one of its member states funds the growth, processing and distribution of illegal drugs? Will Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon remain quiet over the fact that the president of a member state overtly supports the use of kidnapping for ransom as a way to fund said drug-running operations?

Babalu doubts it. I, on the other hand, have less faith in the same UN that repeatedly, with no long term memory, does idiotic stuff like this.

UPDATE 03/04: FARC has also gone after uranium for a dirty bomb?

UPDATE 03/04: Colombia asks the International Criminal Court to bring genocide charges against Hugo Chavez for his support of FARC, documented on the recovered laptop.

UPDATE 03/05: Venezuela completes the moving of 10 tank battalions to its border, continuing its buildup.

UPDATE 03/05: FYI, Chavez supports Hezbollah Venezuela–Islamic terrorists–as well.

UPDATE 03/05: Negotiations have begun while Chavez tries to aggravate the situation.

As far as fomenting war goes, the US seems to be acting against that interest. While fully supporting Colombia’s right to defend itself against FARC, we apparently got Colombia to admit that they violated Ecuadorian sovereignty in their raid … The situation remains very touchy. Chavez still has his army mobilized on the border, but Uribe has pointedly refused to follow suit. Colombia wants to de-escalate the tension, sensing that it has overplayed its hand in the FARC raid and has alienated more than just Chavez and Ecuadorian leader Rafael Correa. Uribe would do best by allowing Chavez to bellow a while and then declare victory and go home. He got what he wanted in the raid, and the intel showing Chavez as a terrorist financier will do its damage.

UPDATE 03/06: Those same recovered FARC documents mention Obama.

UPDATE 03/07: Chavez continues to spout off while at the same time calling for a cooling of tensions.

UPDATE 03/08: Missed this until now: Raúl Reyes met US diplomats secretly in Costa Rica in 1998.