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Wizdom
04-03-08, 02:08
Chavez: Colombia Has Become Israel of Latin America

03/03/2008 Venezuela and Ecuador moved their troops to their borders with Colombia, engaged in a war of words and downgraded diplomatic ties as they found themselves Monday in tense standoff after their Andean neighbor bombed Colombian fighters inside Ecuador in an attack Caracas said could spark a war.

From Caracas, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said he was sending 10 army battalions equipped with tanks and fighter aircraft to his country's border with Colombia, accusing the latter of pushing South America to the brink of war and likening it to Israel for its US-backed attacks on fighters.

Chavez called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a criminal and branded his government a terrorist state, over the killing of a top fighter leader on Ecuadorian soil. "The Colombian government has become the Israel of Latin America", Chavez said, stating at the same time that he "was not going to permit Colombia to become the Israel of these lands". "Uribe, we aren't going to permit you," he added.

"We don't want war," said Chavez, "but we won't let the (U.S.) Empire or its lap dog President Uribe try to make us weaker," he added. He also ordered his foreign minister to shut down the Venezuelan embassy in Bogota and tell all officials to return home.

For his part, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, a fellow leftist and close ally of Chavez, said late Sunday he had ordered the deployment of troops to the northern border and an "immediate expulsion" of Colombian Ambassador Carlos Holguin as a result of Saturday's raid, in which Raul Reyes, the second-ranking commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was killed.

Correa's initial reaction to the raid was relatively calm. But he admitted he had become angry when he learned the FARC fighters "were not killed in hot pursuit, but were bombed and massacred in their sleep." He said Colombia violated Ecuador's airspace when it bombed the camp. "This was a massacre... We will not allow this to go unpunished," Correa pointed out.

On the other hand, Colombia said, in a statement, that FARC 'terrorists' including Reyes have had the custom of killing in Colombia and taking refuge in the territory of neighboring countries. Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo extended apology for the action, but said the Colombian military "had to take over the border area" because it needed to locate "the place from which it took fire." But later, the tone hardened when a spokesman for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe accused Correa of making commitments to the FARC. He said documents found in computers belonging to Reyes showed that "Correa has a relationship and commitments with the FARC."

The United States, which has been backing Colombia in its decades-long fight, said it was monitoring the situation in South America. "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," White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe told reporters at Bush's ranch in Crawford, Texas.

The situation pushed already tense relations between Venezuela and Colombia to a new nadir, though cross-border trade has not yet been seriously affected.

mark61
04-03-08, 08:25
Nee Chavez is fris met zijn onderdak verlenen aan de FARC.

Morosian
04-03-08, 08:57
"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,"

Het klopt natuurlijk niet dat Colombia zonder medeweten van haar buurland besluit haar grondgebied te betreden voor een militaire actie, maar los daarvan lijkt me niet veel mis met de actie. FARC zijn terroristen, vraag dat maar aan de onlangs vrijgelaten gijzelaars.

Om Colombia te betitelen als Israël van Zuid-Amerika lijkt me wat geforceerd. Turkije heeft ook sterke banden met de VS en zit in Noord-Irak om de PKK uit te roeien. Is Turkije daarmee het Israël van de Balkan?

Julien
04-03-08, 10:56
Zolang de Farc onschuldige mensen gijzelt, zoals Ingrid Bétancourt, heeft Columbia naar mijn mening alle recht om deze terroristen aan te pakken.. ook al is het een paar kilometer over de grens.
Ecuador en Venezuela moeten niet zeuren. Het is geen aanval van Colombia op Ecuadpr of Venezuela, maar het is een binnenlandse aangelegenheid. De Farc verstopt zich echter ook in buurlanden..
De vergelijkingen met Turkije zijn inderdaad meer op z'n plaats. Al was er in Noord-Irak sprake van een échte inval in een gevaarlijk land. Wat dat betreft gaan alle vergelijkingen mank.

Umarvlie
04-03-08, 13:44
Met Chavez als .. als ... ja als wie eigenlijk?

mark61
04-03-08, 14:02
Met Chavez als .. als ... ja als wie eigenlijk?

Gewoon, de locale robin hoet. Khaled Meshal. Usama. Daniël Ortega. Hmm, gemengd publiek.