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TechnoratiPresident Hugo Chavez on Wednesday warned Colombia not to allow a U.S. military base on its border with Venezuela, saying he would consider such an act an "aggression."
Chavez said he would not permit Colombia's U.S.-backed government to establish an American military base in La Guajira, a region spanning northeastern Colombia and northwestern Venezuela.
The Venezuelan leader said if Colombia allows the base, his government will revive a decades-old territorial conflict and stake a claim to the entire region.
"We will not allow the Colombian government to give La Guajira to the empire," Chavez said, referring to the U.S. during a speech to a packed auditorium of uniformed soldiers. "Colombia is launching a threat of war at us."
He said Washington's top diplomat in Bogota, U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield, recently suggested that a U.S. military base in Ecuador could be moved to La Guajira.
Chavez urged his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, to "think it over well" before making such a decision because Venezuela will do "whatever it takes" to ensure that a U.S. military base is not built on the peninsula in the Caribbean Sea.
Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa - a close Chavez ally - has repeatedly said that he will not renew a 10-year lease on the base in the Pacific port of Manta when it expires next year.
Manta is the United States' only military base in South America. Surveillance flights the U.S. runs from there are responsible for about 60 percent of drug interdiction in the eastern Pacific.
Diplomatic relations between Caracas and Bogota have been rocky for months. They worsened last week when Colombia unveiled documents allegedly showing that Chavez sought to arm and finance Colombian rebels. Chavez denies the claim.
Colombian officials say they found the documents in laptops recovered after a March 1 cross-border raid in Ecuador that killed rebel leader Raul Reyes and 24 other people.
International police agency Interpol is analyzing the documents and plans to present its findings on Thursday in Bogota.
"The Colombian government will surely announce tomorrow that the documents retrieved from Raul Reyes' computer are authentic and, therefore, Chavez supports terrorism," Chavez said.
Chavez - an outspoken critic of U.S. foreign policy in Latin America - said Washington is using Uribe as pawn in a plan aimed at portraying Venezuela as a backer of terrorism.
Chavez denies supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, saying he only seeks a peaceful end to the neighboring country's decades-long armed conflict.
The European Union joined the United States in listing the FARC - Latin America's largest rebel force with roughly 14,000 fighters - as a terrorist group in 2002, outlawing economic support for the guerrillas.
© Copyright 2008 The Associated Press
17 Comments so far
Show AllAny country that does not want to end up like Palestine or Iraq, had better get several nuclear bombs and a way to deliver them to any point on the planet.
So who's going to tell us?, "We can invade Venezuela, overthrow its Hitlerez, and use the oil we capture to pay for it all. We'll shatter OPEC and the price will sink to new lows." I think they can sell the impending grand-scale crime against Iran more successfully (despite the sales pitch being identical to the one fabricated for the aggression against Iraq) than they could to convince us to smash Venezuela. You can't paint South American socialists as Islamo-fascists. Then again, maybe I'm completely wrong here, and stuck in some paradigm of the past. After all, how do they respond to our collective expression of will. With the shortest rhetorical question in the English language, "So?" Still, the vitriolic rhetoric issuing forth from the corridors of power has Iran as its target. I guess we'll never get over 1979. I think the spooks will use their same old bag of tricks to try to destroy the Bolivarian Revoloution---enlisting dispossessed elites as quislings, propaganda, bribes, assasinations,etc...
As Kurt Vonnegut said, " If only angels knew how to organize like the Mafia, then goodness would stand a chance." Okay, I've reached the end of my ramble. THE END. Thanks for listening. And Have a Nice Day!
Rebel Farmer,
"This is outrageous! What action can American citizens take to stop the expansion of US bases ANYWHERE? Who is in charge of authorizing such a thing?"
Hey Rebel, your perception is better than that! Sure it's outrageous! I'll answer your questions with my perspective or outlook on this sad state of affairs.
The ONLY way to stop this expansion is for American citizens to participate in so-called representative government. That, my friend, is imperative! No ifs ands or buts. But before our fellow citizens become active, they must have enough knowledge and information on the subject matter to really be effective in stopping the expansion, otherwise, they'll be easily conned into thinking "empire" is necessary. For starters, encourage them to read books and articles, listen to tapes or watch DVD's of (and there are many more) by, whom I consider, "expert" thinkers on this very topic. Noam Chomsky, Michael Parenti, Howard Zinn, and Chalmers Johnson. These scholars have all the information needed for the citizens to act on.
Voting for the same group of incumbents who authorize these bases and the enormous military budget; and if anyone of you think it's for defense of this country, get out of the sun and put your thinking cap on and allow yourselves ample time to read those books. Stop being hoodwinked, Rebel (and anyone else) by corporate media selecting your candidates for you. Remember Kucinich, Gravel, and even Edwards, before the hollidays? No need to elaborate. If the polls are right and 65-70% of Americans are disenchanted with the coward-in-chief and his five times a coward VP, why do they keep voting for the same con artists? Why haven't they left the "one-party" duopoly and joined us Greens or something different? Ignorance is not bliss! Can anybody tell me the last time one or both of their US Senators had a town hall meeting, or returned a phone call to you? My two, Feinstein and Boxer haven't. Who do these 100 Senators represent?
The State Department, Pentagon, CIA, and the Republicrats authorize such a thing. All under one big circus tent, greasing each other's palms while fleecing us taxpayers.
How do you stop it? I've got to get ready for work, but, from my limited knowledge of history and personal experiences, the Peaceman will leave you his answer.
"Take to the streets, withhold your labor!" (peacefully). Rebel Farmer, if the citizens of America ever took those words seriously and acted on them, we'd win, and democracy in the truest sense of the word and an egalitarian society would come forth. Everything else hasn't worked.
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I see president dimwit (W) is at it again, or is it shotgun cheney, either way, one last push to screw things up on yet another continent. That's one way to further erode any remaining latin/hispanic voting bloc for the GOP this fall, sad thing, they know and don't give a crap.
Someone above said it and I agree, buy CITCO! This criminal group in DC, along with our great "News Media", has tried everything they can think of to remove Chavez and I figure anything they come up with is about 99.8 percent pure bulls*&t. I would certainly believe him before I'd believe George or Dick. They have a definate track record of lie after lie and continue to repeat the lie even after its proven to be a lie. Maybe George is pissed because Chavez doesn't hold hands with him?
Hey Poet, I don't think even Shrub can invade Venezuela for Chevez running off at the mouth. THAT would be a little too transparent even for our current resident.
And I think that Hugo knows how to play this game. Look at how he responded when Columbia invaded Equedor (sp). He and Evo put a sock in that one.
I like your idea about China. They are already making deals with Hugo to process their heavy crude and signing futures contracts for oil. Very nice.
The whole Russian involvement might look cool, but Putin is already at his wits end with Bush and his sabor rattling along the Russian borders. This is already a powder keg ready to blow up. I'd hate to see Hugo take it in the shorts for Shrub.
Oh, and xntrk, I have never figured out how using tax money to support the economy was ever beneficial unless it was for support for infrastructure, education, and the needy. Yeah know, the stuff that our government is supposed to be doing besides blowing stuff up.
Hugo Chavez rocks!
I say we write him in for president -- of the United State!s -- this coming November.
Consider how Hugo Chavez, if he was president of the United States, would have responded to the victims of Katrina, or to the victims of the housing crisis, versus how the Republicans and Democrats have responded.
BTW, buy Citgo gas. It comes from Venezuela.
YOU GO, HUGO!
Okay, the US is an imperialist power (it's not just Bush--check our history going all the way back to the Monroe Doctrine).
Uribe is a nice little compliant American stooge the way the Bushies only wish Maliki would be.
Having said that I fear that Hugo is walking right into a provocative trap designed to indulge his greatest weakness--his love of popping off with bluster whenever confronted by something that displeases him.
If he really wanted to get the attention of his adversaries he would announce exploratory talks with the Chinese on the possibility of naval maintenance facilities for their growing blue water fleet. That, along with plans for a Russian airbase, on Venezuelan soil ought to get the message across that there are many ways to play the proxy provocation game.
Haven't read about the new Naval Strike Force 4, anywhere but in the Latin American press. This huge combo of carriers and subs is supposed to help out with the War on Drugs.
As for ending support for the Defense rip-off, if the public is not complicit, certainly the Congress is. The military is the biggest industry in Hawaii and many other states. Senators Inouye and Akaka both think it's the best way to diversify our economy, and they vote for every dollar they can squeeze out of DC. Personally, I call it bribery.
Same is true of Alaska, Washington and California. I've never lived in the East, but I doubt if Georgia and Virginia are any different.
This particular baby should have been strangled at birth, rather then just occasionally mentioned in letters and speeches ala Eisenhower.
Okay folks, you aren't helping me much here.
I was thinking that our "October Surprise" was going to be Iran. Maybe we got a three prong surprise coming instead. Does anyone else invision a Syria/Iran/Venezuela package?
By the way, has anyone heard from Adm. Fallon? Wish I was a fly on the wall......
Petro-fired godzilla for rent. Any takers? It's our only export.
Americans are not brain dead they are complicit.
First of all, you have to convince most of the American people, that it is not desirable to be the bully on the block.
Of course, that is not going to happen, because most of your brain dead citizens believe that the US of A has the right to "kick ass" wherever it "Goddam pleases".
$3 million from Chavez to FARC a fake
http://www.gregpalast.com/300-million-from-chavez-to-farc-a-fake/
Viva Chavez! It's good to see a real man stand up to a monster like Bush and his Colombian puppets.
Hi Rebel. I would say WW3 has been in development mode for at least a generation. To stop it, we must rollback War Department funding by electing congresscritters dedicated to doing same. The only other real option is to foment an insurgency from within the Empire. Unfortunately, to be successful, an insurgency must have the support of a large mass of the populace, which is currently lacking due to the success of government/media propaganda. Until the US public sees the War Department for the threat it is, the political route remains the only real choice. Fortunately, the current situation is very fluid/dynamic as people start to connect their economic pain with War Department policy. This can only increase as economic conditions worsen.
This is outrageous! What action can American citizens take to stop the expansion of US bases ANYWHERE? Who is in charge of authorizing such a thing?
This is not about just Venezuela or South America. This is about the sovreignty of all the nations of the world and the freedom of humanity. Already the US is threatening Russia by putting armaments on their borders. Already the US is threatening to invade Iran. Already the US is overthrowing democratically elected governments. Already the US is arming dictators around the world.
So, how is that working out for the US so far? Putin is not a happy camper with US actions and is threatening another arms race because of US actions on its borders.
Give me a hint here. What the h**l can we do to stop our US monsters? We can't wait til the election. WW3 is developing NOW!