Chavez orders troops to Colombia border

[ImWithStupid]

Chavez orders troops to Colombia border

(CNN) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday ordered 10 battalions of military forces to the country's border with Colombia, and ordered the closure of Venezuela's embassy in Colombia's capital city of Bogota.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says Colombia violated Ecuador's sovereignty.

Chavez made the moves in reaction to an operation carried out at dawn Saturday by Colombia's national police and its air force in Ecuador, which resulted in the death of the second-in-command of the FARC rebels group, Luis Edgar Devia Silva, known as "Raul Reyes."

FARC is the Spanish acronym for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The Marxist group has been trying for some 40 years to overthrow the Colombian government and is estimated to be holding 750 hostages in the jungles of Colombia.

In the past two months, Chavez has brokered FARC's release of six of them. Reyes, who was a member of the seven-man FARC leadership council known as the general secretariat, played a key mediation role in their release.

Also killed was Guillermo Enrique Torres or "Julian Conrado," who was a key FARC ideologue.

"The Colombian oligarchy says it was combat," said Chavez, whose leftist politics have been credited for his warm relations with the rebel group. "It was not combat. It was a cowardly murder, coldly prepared in its entirety. The truth is coming out."

Chavez orders troops to Colombia border - CNN.com

I hope Columbia can mend fences with it's neighbors, or it looks likely that our tax money will be used to back Columbia in a war in South America, against Equador, Venezuela and the FARC rebels.

Other related articles...

No. 2 Colombian rebel killed, government says - CNN.com

Fallen Rebel: The U.S. Connection - TIME

 

[Old Salt]

It's getting hotter and hotter down there (and not just the weather). Ecuador and Venezuela are putting troops on the border. Just saw something on CNN about a video of Chavez giving FARC guerillas some money (didn't catch the whole thing). I've thought that might be the case because they share the same ideology. And Ecuador's president follows Chavez.

 

[wez]

This scares me. The world is in a fragile state, held by a rusty wire.

 

[Old Salt]

Chavez is in trouble at home. He's losing support from his base and his political allies. For some reason, even with all that oil, Chavez' programs and Venezuela's infrastructure are falling apart. One good point is that his people don't like FARC and don't want a war (and neither do the Colombian people). By the way, Chavez ordered four TANK battalions to the border. I'm not real familiar with the topography, but isn't it jungle? What will tanks do except act as artillery?

 

[wez]

Chavez is in trouble at home. He's losing support from his base and his political allies. For some reason, even with all that oil, Chavez' programs and Venezuela's infrastructure are falling apart. One good point is that his people don't like FARC and don't want a war (and neither do the Colombian people).

Seems to me, that's when "leaders" are the most dangerous, and ready to sacrifice anyone and everyone.

 

[ImWithStupid]

Chavez is in trouble at home. He's losing support from his base and his political allies. For some reason, even with all that oil, Chavez' programs and Venezuela's infrastructure are falling apart. One good point is that his people don't like FARC and don't want a war (and neither do the Colombian people).

I predict that unless Columbia finds a way to de-escalate the situation, Chavez will likely find a reason, or react to any small border violation, intentional or not, and will try to rally the people using US backing of Columbia as his rally cry, just like Iran is doing in the Middle East with Israel.

By the way, Chavez ordered four TANK battalions to the border. I'm not real familiar with the topography, but isn't it jungle? What will tanks do except act as artillery?

Or unintended roadblocks if they are immobilized.

 

[Old Salt]

Seems to me, that's when "leaders" are the most dangerous, and ready to sacrifice anyone and everyone.

Guess I should have added that neither country's military really want a war either.

 

[Old Salt]

And now, Nicaragua is breaking off ties with Colombia in support of Ecuador. It's gonna be an interesting few weeks in South America coming up. Bush says we're behind Colombia 100%. But what does that actually mean? The old Southern Command (their area of responsibility was South America) has been re-named and is just a shadow of its former self. Guess what he meant was that the US would be happy to send more bullets when they're needed.

 

[ImWithStupid]

If something happens there, we're already staged to be sucked in. Columbia already receives the most military support of any country, other then Iraq. If it comes down to supporting our Columbian ally, against, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador and FARC, we run the risk of angering China, Cuba, and Russia and touching off Cold War II.