So this is what John Perkins warned Rafael Correa about…

In yer country, stealin yer oils!!!

…and of course, it would have to be Colombia, deciding to repeat not-so-ancient history and once more, conduct a raid on foreign soil without having the common decency to identify that soil’s government about its intentions ahead of time.


This isn’t the first time Colombia has served as Washington’s pawn in its proxy wars. Remember how I mentioned history repeating? Well, what would you have called it when Colombian commandos swooped on the capital of Venezuela and kidnapped Rodrigo Granda, another high-ranking FARC man, without so much as an “Oh, by the way, there’s a FARC guy hanging out illegally on your soil, could you please hand him over to us”? A major violation of sovereignty? Shyeah. It was also highly illegal, and designed to provoke an international incident that would justify Washington in authorizing an invasion of Venezuela.

Only, alas, things didn’t turn out quite that way. After a brief diplomatic scuffle, Venezuela and Colombia kissed and made up.

And of course, then as now, the US media was anxious to spread all kinds of cockamamie stories (heavy on accusations, light on truth) about alleged “links” between Chavecito and the FARC. Only this time, Ecuadorian president Rafael Correa has also been drawn into the cock-and-bull ring. The murder of Raul Reyes isn’t the doing of the Colombians, oh nooooo…it’s Correa’s fault for “harboring” the FARC, even if he did nothing of the sort. Same shit, ‘nother outhouse…

Oh, and before I forget, the FARC’s status has been changed, from a guerrilla insurgent army (which sounds too legitimate for some people’s liking) to the terrifying designation of “narco-terrorists”. Which is yet another lame excuse for Washington to extend the War on Terra to two more oil-rich countries, and “intervene” (translation: invade with guns a-blazing.) But there’s a snag: According to international law, the FARC in fact qualify as belligerents, since they do control some territory within Colombia. And Chavecito is well aware of this; hence his emphatic designation of the FARC as “a real army”.

What’s really disgusting is that all this is going on while Chavecito is doing his damnedest to find a peaceful solution to the Colombian conflict. (And according to two recently released hostages, he has been succeeding in persuading the FARC, at least.) As he was posted to the border regions for a number of years during his military career, he was in an excellent position to see just how dangerous a raging Colombian civil war was for Venezuela. His job, as a young military officer fresh out of training academy, was to try to contain that civil war within the borders of Colombia, and prevent both right-wing paramilitaries AND left-wing guerrillas from spilling over into Venezuela and making life miserable there. So naturally, as president now, he’s still interested in peaceful resolutions. Hell, who wouldn’t be?

Um…you know who! And they’ve been very, very busy.

Here’s a scary find: the “El Salvador model” as an option for Plan Colombia. Oh great, paramilitary death squads with US backing, AGAIN! Lovely! We all know who they tried to take out, not so long ago–don’t we, kiddies? (And no, it wasn’t just campesinos trying to get some land back from the lazy latifundistas, either.) The “Salvador Option” has been implemented in Iraq, and the results speak for themselves. Of course the US is interested in keeping the Ecuador/Colombia/Venezuela corridor unstable, you jackass! By invoking the spectre of an insurgency, they have an excuse to send death squads steal oil send death squads to steal oil heroically battle communism for the soul of the Free World!

And talk about your strange coinkydinks: Both Rodrigo Granda and the late Raul Reyes had been negotiating, at various points, over the possible release of Ingrid Betancourt, the prominent Colombian/French ex-politician. And then, as now, Betancourt’s relatives have accused Alvaro the Arrogant of being obstructionist and a saboteur to the peace process. Hmmm, whatever could that mean?

And if you want to know why the shit is flying so thick and fast over Ecuador this time, here you go: a clue or two.

Share this story:
This entry was posted in Angry Pacifist Speaks Her Mind, Barreling Right Along, Crapagandarati, Do As I Say..., Ecuadorable As Can Be, El NarcoPresidente, Fascism Without Swastikas, Huguito Chavecito, Isn't That Illegal?, No Good Deed Goes Unpunished, The War on Terra. Bookmark the permalink.