Chavez sends tanks to Colombia border in dispute, warns of war

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Venezuela President Hugo Chavez ordered tank battalions to the Colombian border on Sunday after Colombian troops struck inside another of its neighbors, Ecuador, in an attack on rebels.

He also ordered the shutting of Venezuela's embassy in Colombia and the withdrawal of all diplomatic staff in the dispute, warning Colombia's actions could spark a war in South America.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/i...=22&sp=true

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From Bloomberg:

Colombia's military killed Raul Reyes, a leader of Colombia's biggest guerrilla group, in a predawn air strike against his camp in neighboring Ecuador. Colombian troops crossed into Ecuador after the strike to collect bodies.

Chavez has been in negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrilla group to secure hostage releases. His increased involvement in the Colombian conflict has heightened tensions between the two countries.

"Don't even think about doing something like this over here (Colombian) President Uribe, because that would be extremely serious,'' Chavez said, according to a statement published on the Venezuelan information ministry's Web site. "A military incursion on Venezuelan soil would be a cause for war.''

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From the AP:

[Chavez] called the U.S.-allied government in Bogota "a terrorist state" and labeled President Alvaro Uribe "a criminal."

Chavez condemned the slaying of senior rebel commander Raul Reyes and 16 other members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, saying they were killed while they slept in a camp across the border in Ecuadorean territory.

He said Colombia "invaded Ecuador, flagrantly violated Ecuador's sovereignty."

"It wasn't any combat. It was a cowardly murder, all of it coldly calculated," Chavez said on his weekly TV and radio program, "Hello, President."

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

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From the AFP:

Reyes was in a rebel camp located 1.8 kilometers (a mile) from the Ecuadoran-Colombian border when the air force began bombing shortly after midnight, Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos told a news conference.

Colombian ground troops were then deployed into the guerrilla hideout to secure the area, Santos said. A total of 17 guerrillas and one soldier were killed in the operation.

"It is the heaviest blow ever dealt against this terrorist group," Santos said.

Reyes, 59, whose real name was Luis Edgar Devia, was a union leader working for Swiss food giant Nestle in the southern department of Caqueta when he joined the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in the 1970s.

The grey-bearded, bespectacled rebel, who went on to become the FARC's chief spokesman, donning olive fatigues and carrying a rifle, had been viewed as a possible successor to the group's 77-year-old boss, Manuel Marulanda.

His killing was a major coup for Uribe, who has taken a hard stance against the 17,000-strong FARC, South America's biggest insurgency which has bedeviled successive governments since the 1960s.

It was the first time that one of the seven members of FARC's secretariat, or leadership council, was killed in combat.

[HAL 9000 96]

The should have a right to defend their sovereign territory.

Wifey tells me the situation back home is tense... but when you live in a country where a road trip can turn into a kidnapping ordeal, life is tense quite often.

Lets hope the Chavez-Uribe ####### just stays that way- as #######.

[panamania79 2]

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez ordered tank battalions to the Colombian border on Sunday after Colombian troops struck inside another of its neighbors, Ecuador, in an attack on rebels.

He also ordered the shutting of Venezuela's embassy in Colombia and the withdrawal of all diplomatic staff in the dispute, warning Colombia's actions could spark a war in South America.

http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/i...=22&sp=true

So that's why many Colombians and Venezuelans are coming to Panama,to get away from Chavez.

[panamania79 2]

The should have a right to defend their sovereign territory.

Wifey tells me the situation back home is tense... but when you live in a country where a road trip can turn into a kidnapping ordeal, life is tense quite often.

Lets hope the Chavez-Uribe ####### just stays that way- as #######.

I'll stay tuned to CARACOLTV and check it out.

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From Xinhua:

Colombia's Foreign Ministry, in a Sunday statement, formally denied violating Ecuador's sovereignty...

"Colombia did not violate Ecuador's sovereignty, instead it acted in line with the principle of legitimate self-defense," said the statement. "Terrorists have been killing in Colombia and invading neighboring nations to take refuge," it added.

...

Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, formally denounced Saturday's military action as "the worst aggression suffered by Ecuador."

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An editorial from OhmyNews:

The Colombian operation may weaken the guerrilla force's position and break down the "myth" about its ability to dodge military incursions in the jungle and disappear without difficulty.

Unfortunately, it may also be a dangerous breach of Ecuadorian sovereignty, raising tensions in the region and turning a major victory against the FARC into a nightmare.

...

Yet it's hard to admonish Colombia and its effort to bring down a guerrilla force that dominates 15 to 20 percent of the country's territory, protects the drug lords who give the nation a bad name, defies daily the sovereignty of its army and government and hides in neighboring territories. It's hard to criticize an army that saw the possibility of hitting its biggest enemy where it hurt and potentially weakening it -- it's hard to say the operation was a bad move, under a number of aspects.

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I'm sure they view it as self-defense in Colombia, and the situation is pretty dicey. However, entering another country militarily without invitation, provocation, or permission is an act of aggression whatever way you cut it.

I'd rather watch a neutral TV source... Caracol and RCN do not usually get in the habit of being too critical of Uribe's government. What Chavez may do to pull a station's plug for airing video contrary to his wishes is usually done in Colombia by unplugging individual reporters critical of government officials from the planet if you can catch my drift.

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And yes... I was not saddened to read about that SOB that got wiped off the face of the planet... that porker had lots of blood on his hands. I do hope that the rest of the crazies with guilty hands are brought to total justice on both sides of the civil war currently in effect. Its sickening seeing so many innocent civilians migrating from their homes to the cities with nothing to work in in a very fragile economy where the rich benefit from a terrible imbalance of wealth and ultimately, a status quo that serves to preserve them in power via generous arrangements with governments such as our own.

[Ban Hammer 13,355]

i'm with colombia on this one.

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And I'm with the people of Colombia. Venezuela. Ecuador. Etc. Not always the same thing being with the strongarmed, is it?

[Don_Joy's Prince 0]

Chavez is a thug and an elected dictator. The people of Venezuela and the whole of South America will be under threat for as long as he remains in power.

[isleta521 5]

Chavez is an idiot. Plain and simple. Many Venezuelanos that I work with believe that he now has it out for his people since he lost the vote of confidence. Its not going to get better for those folks over there any time soon.

On a slightly different subject. There is a really good film made in this country, I am not sure of the name of it. I think it is called Sequestro Express. And this film is considered illegal contraband in Venezuela per Chavez.