[Marxism] AP report on Venezuela/Colombia/Ecuador

[Anthony Boynton]

 Chavez warns of war with Colombia

By IAN JAMES, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 44
minutes ago

CARACAS, Venezuela - Warning that Colombia could spark
a war, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sent tanks and
thousands of troops to the countries' border Sunday
and ordered his government's embassy in Bogota closed.

The leftist leader warned Colombia's U.S.-allied
government that Venezuela will not permit acts like
Saturday's killing of top rebel leader Raul Reyes and
16 other Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia
guerrillas at a camp across the border in Ecuador.

"Mr. Defense Minister, move 10 battalions to the
border with Colombia for me, immediately — tank
battalions, deploy the air force," Chavez said during
his weekly TV and radio program. "We don't want war,
but we aren't going to permit the U.S. empire, which
is the master (of Colombia) ... to come to divide us."

He ordered the Venezuelan Embassy in Bogota closed and
said all embassy personnel would be withdrawn. It
pushes already tense relations between the South
American neighbors to their lowest point yet, with
potentially far-reach effects on billions of dollars
in cross-border trade.

Though Chavez didn't say how many troops he was
sending, a Venezuelan battalion traditionally has some
600 soldiers — meaning some 6,000 could be headed to
the border.

Chavez called the Colombian government "a terrorist
state" as he sided with the leftist rebels it has
battled for decades, saying its military "invaded
Ecuador, flagrantly violated Ecuador's sovereignty."

Neither Colombia's foreign minister nor the country's
military leadership would comment on Chavez's latest
move when pressed by reporters for comment Sunday as
they left a funeral service in Bogota for a Colombian
soldier killed in Saturday's raid.

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.

Chavez said he had just spoken to Ecuadorean President
Rafael Correa and that Ecuador was also sending troops
to its border with Colombia. Chavez said his
Ecuadorean ally told him that Uribe had lied and that
the rebels were killed while asleep "in their
pajamas."

"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.

He called Uribe "a criminal" accusing him of being a
"lapdog" of Washington saying "Dracula's fangs (are)
are covered in blood."

The slaying of Reyes and 16 other guerrillas, Chavez
said, "wasn't any combat. It was a cowardly murder,
all of it coldly calculated."

"We pay tribute to a true revolutionary, who was Raul
Reyes," Chavez said, recalling that he had met rebel
in Brazil in 1995 and calling him a "good
revolutionary."

"The Colombian government has become the Israel of
Latin America," an agitated Chavez said, mentioning
another country that he has criticized for its
military strikes. "We aren't going to permit Colombia
to become the Israel of these lands. ... Uribe, we
aren't going to permit you."

"Someday Colombia will be freed from the hand of the
(U.S.) empire," Chavez said. "We have to liberate
Colombia," he added, saying Colombia's people will
eventually do away with its government.

Chavez maintains warm relations with the Colombia's
largest guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and has sought to play a
role as mediator in the conflict despite his growing
conflict with Colombia's government.

Colombia and Venezuela have been locked in a
diplomatic crisis since November, when Uribe ended
Chavez's official role negotiating a proposed
hostages-for-prisoners swap.

Nevertheless, the FARC freed four hostages to
Venezuelan officials last week, and they were reunited
with their families in Caracas. It was the second
unilateral release by the FARC this year.

Chavez has recently angered Uribe by urging world
leaders to classify the leftist rebels as "insurgents"
rather than "terrorists."

The FARC has proposed trading some 40 remaining
high-value captives, including former Colombian
presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt and three
U.S. defense contractors, for hundreds of imprisoned
guerrillas.

In Ecuador, army Gen. Fabian Narvaez told The
Associated Press that soldiers had found the bodies of
15 rebels and that soldiers planned to hand the bodies
over to Ecuadorean officials, who will conduct
forensic exams.

He said three Ecuadorean battalions have been
stationed in the area in the country's northeastern
jungle since Saturday, just a few miles from Colombian territory.


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