Lula, Chavez, Kirchner talk on Colombia-Venezuela relations

[Judi Lynn]

Lula, Chavez, Kirchner talk on Colombia-Venezuela relations
11:40, August 07, 2010

http://www.people.com.cn.nyud.net:8090/mediafile/pic/20100807/22/17301902676982175978.jpg

General-gecretary of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) Nestor Kirchner, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met on Friday in Caracas to talk about the ties between Colombia and Venezuela.

"We are all mediating, we are mediating," Chavez said while entering the Miraflores Palace along with Lula and Kirchner.

Venezuela severed its diplomatic ties with Colombia on July 22, after Bogota accused it of sheltering Colombian guerrilla chiefs in its territory.

Kirchner arrived in Caracas on Thursday noon in order to mediate the conflict between the two neighbors.

Lula arrived on Friday to fulfill an agenda including the analysis of the bilateral ties between Brazil and Venezuela and participation in the Presidential Strategic Table of the South American and African countries (ASA).

Chavez also said it was "very possible" that Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro will attend the inauguration of Colombia's president-elect Juan Manuel Santos, to be held on Saturday, adding that the issue is still being discussed.

http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90852/7096662.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. Thanks for the photo! I love the open faces of these leaders, the real smiles, and the

genuine affection they seem to have for each other. What a contrast to the tension, the pasted-on smiles and the ill-at-ease ambience of our own political leaders! You can't always tell from photos. They are sometimes NOT worth "a thousand words." But this one is obviously candid--captured these leaders unposed--and they seem to glow with good fellowship, in this unposed, unaware-of-the-camera moment--a quality of the leadership in Latin America that we have seen in other photos, at different times.

I hope this bodes well for their foiling our war profiteers' war plans in South America.

It's interesting how war preparations take on a cartoon character--you can hardly believe your eyes and ears--whether it's Bush Jr strutting around peddling non-existent WMDs in Iraq, or Uribe (a "little Bush") strutting around peddling FARC guerrillas in Venezuela, with an equally phony and discredited basis. YOU SIMPLY CAN'T BELIEVE that this utter crap could lead to a real, shooting war, with a hundred thousand innocent people slaughtered. We need to remember that it CAN.

You think that surely sanity will prevail. How could anyone believe such lies? You look at leaders like those in this photo. How can good leaders, in good accord with each other, NOT succeed in preventing war?

Well, whether anybody believes the lies or not, war goes forward, and good leaders find themselves unable to stop it, because of the power of the multinational corporations and war profiteers who want the war.

As absurd and unfounded as these Colombian accusations against Venezuela are, and as ridiculous as this "little Bush" Uribe--this filthy little war criminal--is, we must not underestimate the potential motives for accusing Venezuela of 'harboring' FARC guerrillas, and we really and truly cannot trust Santos as to his being the front man for another oil war, though he may be playing things close to his chest at the moment. Wars, by their nature, almost always involve absurd lies, and the more unjust the war, the more absurd the lies. How can anybody believe such lies? Nobody does, not even the perpetrators. How can good leaders counter the forces behind the lies? That is not an easy task and historical precedent is not on their side.

History, however, IS on the side of the leftist democracy movement in Latin America. It's time has come. Our corporate rulers and war profiteers are quite desperate to turn it back, and may resort to war itself, in an effort to do so. I think they will fail--whether they resort to major carnage or not. But if they resort to outright war, they will leave a legacy that our country will never overcome--the complete alienation and severance of the north and south regions of the western hemisphere.

[rabs]

2. The photo is indeed nice

as you say, no false poses there.

The article is outdated however. It is from Friday in Caracas, when everyone was still talking about mediation of the Col/Ven dispute.

Any third-party mediation was dashed by JM Santos in his inaugural speech on Saturday. But Santos said he was willing to go one-on-one with Hugo and Rafa. So Hugo pounced, and said he would be willing to go to Bogota.

So the Chavez/Santos meeting is set for tomorrow in the den of the lion.

I just hope some Colombian nutball sicario, paramilitary, Farc, uribista does NOT decide to take a shot a Hugo. There are enough screwballs in Colombia that it is probably passing through the mind of a lot of them.

Btw, assume you saw where the Colombian government on Saturday presented Correa with a hard drive alleged to have come from the miracle laptop that belonged to Reyes. The article did not say who gave it to Correa.

Rafa took the hard drive back to Quito where experts will pore over its contents. I doubt anything conclusive, either way, will come of this.


(edited to add a NOT to decides)

[rabs]

3. Updating -- meeting will NOT be in Bogota

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jmcangel/4827554381/in/photostream/

But at the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino de Santa Marta. The quinta is about three miles outside the city of Santa Marta. It is the finca where Simon Bolivar died and a national monument.

Don't know if the meeting will actually be in the monument building, or the hacienda buildings in the background.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Thanks for the info, rabs!

As I said, I don't like the set-up, at all. It should be a UNASUR set-up, with mediators--with the collective force of the region facing Santos and the U.S. war machine bristling behind him. Chavez can buy time, for Venezuela and for the region. He does not have the power to negotiate the end of Colombia's 40+ year civil war--the excuse that is being used for the U.S. military occupation of Colombia, and the likely trigger mechanism for regional hostilities. THAT is what must be solved--the civil war must be brought to a peaceful end. And Santos, as Former Defense Minister, is closely tied to the Pentagon gravy train and is even more the tool of our war profiteers than Uribe was. It will take collective clout to end this constant threat to the peace of the region, which is being stoked by U.S. money and policy.

[rabs]

5. Check out the expression on Lula's face

At the inauguration of Santos on Saturday. No comment necessary.




In Brazil, AFP is reporting that Santos told Lula today that he would re-establish diplomatic relations with Venezuela after the meeting tomorrow with Chavez.


http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/articulo-218197-santos-le-habria-dicho-lula-restablecera-relaciones-chavez

-----------------

As write this there is a huge fire in downtown Bogota at a National Tribunal building. El Espectador reporting the building houses sensitive court files of all sorts.

Brief video and story here:

http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/bogota/articulo-218189-ningun-despacho-judicial-esta-comprometido-incendio-vargas-lleras

[Judi Lynn]

6. Oh, jeez, Santos' first official day as President. I'm sure it's all conincidental!

They don't know if it's arson. Right! Probably never will!

Hope the original "laptopS" material wasn't stored there. It would mean they will never be able to actually prov e they're authentic to others.

Thank you, rabs. This is startling, although it probably shouldn't be!

[rabs]

7. Looks like the investigation files

of the execution of 11 people (taken out of the Supreme Court building by the military) were stored there.

You will recall that a couple of months ago a retired army general was sentenced to 30 years in prison for that crime, back in 1985 when the M-19 stormed and briefly captured the Supreme Court building.

Oh, Santos' vice president, Angelino Garzón, today suffered a massive heart attack. He had quintuplet bypass surgery. Will be in IC for the next 48 hours.

One day in office and he already has become the Dick Cheney of Colombia.

[EFerrari]

9. No kidding. Cheney had a convenient fire, too, when the CIA torture tape

investigation was heating up.

[EFerrari]

8. That warning letter said they would target Chavez when he was outside of Caracas.

:(

I guess I won't be happy until he's back at home and I can laugh at myself.