It never takes would be dictators long before they start arbitrarily picking fights to take attention off their failing policies at home, and Hugo "Castro is my homeboy" Chavez is no exception. Just like the Argentine military junta which decided going to war with Britain over a few rocks in the Atlantic was a good idea to deflect mounting criticism, Chavez seems to think that spoiling for a fight is going to regain some lost popularity after losing his attempt to become President for life. However, it isn't just a stranglehold on power this desperate human being is after, no, something more sinister here is at play. The fact that Chavez is threatening to attack a true South American success story, Colombia, after that country has just scored one of its biggest victories in its 40 year struggle against FARC, a vicious Marxist/terrorist organization which employs kidnappings and narcotics fueled terrorism to achieve its goals, is troubling enough in its own right. Now things seem to be getting worse.
The world has known all along that Chavez is an ardent Communist supporter, as well as a good old fashioned left wing crack pot who routinely rages against the North American Empire with fellow vaguely left wing actors like Sean Penn. Usually, those type of people are good for a laugh, but these clowns may have bitten off more than they can chew. Less than a week ago, Colombia achieved a major success after knocking off the #2 commander of FARC, Raul Reyes in an early morning military raid. The action took place across the border in Ecuador, another country with a hardcore left president, which had been harboring some of the friendly neighborhood terrorist FARC commandos. Despite the fact Colombian President Uribe had phoned his counterpart Correa in Ecuador to inform him of the action, Presidents Chavez and Correa immediately hit the panic button. Sounds kinda funny right, well keep reading. Within hours of hearing of his bosom buddy's Reyes' death, Chavez sends ten battalions of armored troops to the Colombian border, puts his air force on alert, expels all Colombian diplomats from their embassy, and threatens a pan-South American conflict. Ecuador takes similar action. So far Colombia is keeping it's cool, saying it will not be provoked into a military exercise near its borders. Meanwhile the rest of the planet continues to wonder "what on earth could all the fuss be about?"
For years Chavez has attempted to act as something of a socialist savior to the rest of Latin and South America, sending oil to poorer countries as well as securing the release of hostages held by FARC, some for years. Altruistic as that sounds, reciting Marx usually isn't enough to achieve the freedom of prisoners held for years at a time, and this round is no exception. Days after securing the military intel from the raid in Ecuador, Colombian forces produce the FARC leader's laptop containing data proving that Hugo Chavez has given over $300 million in military aid to FARC over the years he has been in office. Currently, Colombia has turned the evidence over to the International Criminal Court in an attempt to get Chavez indicted on war crimes and potential genocide charges. Now I know what all those meetings between Chavez and Ahmadinejad were about, HOW TO FIGHT PROXY WARS! If anyone out there needs more proof that Chavez is not just another left-wing clown but a potentially dangerous despot and international criminal, I'll have what you're having. Speaking of which, Chavez admitted he chews loads of coca leaves every morning, which more or less makes him a die hard hop head.
Naturally, the EU, Spain, France, and the Organization of American States are doing a good job of keeping this to a war of words as opposed to a war of bullets, but the world needs to be put on notice. And don't worry about Colombia, she can take care of herself just fine and would put Venezuela's military to shame in a fight, notwithstanding she has a friend in the U.S. navy, which would happily take out Chavez's fleet of bathtub toys he calls an armada.
The lesson here is that the joke is over, Chavez is no longer just another loony Latin lefty who makes funny speeches at the UN and wears a stupid beret, he's harboring and supporting the worst terrorist organization in the Western Hemisphere. Chavez and his socialist sycophants must be dealt with mercilessly if they continue to undermine the Colombian democracy struggling against FARC and its quest for chaos and power.
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