Sunday, March 9, 2008

Peace in South America?

After my post on the American Chavezistas, a friend sent me an e-mail suggesting a follow-up. And indeed, there is relevant news today:
The crisis over a Colombian military raid in Ecuador was resolved Friday in the Dominican Republic, at an annual meeting of Latin American leaders. The Colombian president, Álvaro Uribe, apologized to President Rafael Correa of Ecuador, who shook his hand and said, "With the commitment of never attacking a brother country again and by asking forgiveness, we can consider this very serious incident resolved."
The latest from Reuters:
Colombia must make sure neighboring countries are never again affected by its war against the leftist guerrilla group FARC, Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa said in a newspaper interview on Sunday.
Correa has said it will take time to restore diplomatic ties with Colombia even though the countries have resolved a week-long crisis over a Colombian military raid against guerrillas hiding in Ecuador.
In Latin America's worst diplomatic crisis in years, leftist-led allies Ecuador and Venezuela sent troops to their borders with Colombia, cut ties with Bogota and condemned the March 1 raid, which killed more than 20 guerrillas.
Ah, so we see that Ecuador lines up with Chavez in de facto support of the vicious FARC terrorists. The struggle caused by Chavez's expanding influence extends to Peru:
The new Latin American version of the Cold War is especially fierce here in Peru, where President Alan Garcia ... is now a staunch Washington ally and apostle of free trade. ...
Like pro-U.S. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Garcia detests Chavez, whom he derided as a "midget dictator with a big wallet" during the hotly contested Peruvian presidential campaign in 2006. Chavez in turn labeled Garcia a liar, thief and U.S. lackey. Garcia ultimately beat back a challenge from a Chavez supporter, generating a deep sigh of relief at the White House.
So, America has the leadership of Columbia and Peru on its side against Chavez's neo-Marxism. It has been suggested that the Chavez regime has ties to U.S. foes in the Middle East.

Colombia's raid on the narco-terrorists killed two senior FARC commanders. That raid may have been just one part in a coordinated plan to bring counter-pressure against Chavez's expansionist efforts.

Peace? Not likely, so long as Chavez remains in power. It's like the '80s and the Evil Empire all over again, except this time, the Kremlin's in Caracas.

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