As the drumbeats get louder in Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador, the other countries in the region are alarmed and are trying to defuse the situation. The present crisis is not unexpected. Experts had expressed the possibility of a clash between Venezuela and Colombia some time ago.
The roots lie when last year Colombian president Uribe had abruptly ended Chavez’s role in release of hostages held by FARC. Why he did that is unclear. Perhaps the Americans did not want that Chavez get further good publicity. He had earlier enabled the release of some hostages. Anyway, Chavez was miffed by Uribe’s decision and that slight still rankles.
Chavez has been lately having problems feeding his people owing to shortages of food in Venezuela. This has somewhat tarnished his reputation. What better way to divert the attention of his people from the food shortages than a nice little skirmish with his arch-enemy’s friend (Colombia)? But an interesting aspect of this affair is that Venezuela had been getting food supplies from Colombia till recently until Chavez stopped that. One may say he shot himself in the foot.
One remarkable piece of news which has got somewhat buried in the cacophony of rhetoric all around is that Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa had said on Monday that his government had been close to securing a deal with Colombian FARC rebels to free 12 hostages, including French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, before a military incursion by Colombia. Was the Colombian raid aimed to scuttle this release? The hand of the US seems to be behind this to stop the growing influence of Chavez and Ecuador (both are anti-US) in Colombia.
Of course there will be no proof as the CIA leaves no clues, but one suspects that it was totally behind the Colombian raid that killed the FARC leader. The discovery of the laptop which exposes Chavez’s close links with FARC points to the professional hands of the CIA. Was the laptop a plant too?
If war does break out it will be a short one. Chavez will hope for a ‘victory’ to bolster his falling ratings. If the war drags on longer and Venezuela suffers heavy losses, it would be curtains for Chavez. The people of his country are already angry over the shortages in the country.
Source: Google News, TimesOnline
