Venezuelan army no match for the FARC'

[naaman fletcher]

Jesus Gonzalez, former head of the Operational Strategic Command of the Venezuelan armed forces told the Venezuelan website 2001 on Thursday that his nation's soldiers are "at a disadvantage" against Colombian guerrilla organization the FARC.

According to Gonzalez, because of the FARC's "extraordinary experience" in the border region with Colombia, the guerrilla can pass from one side to the other with "great ease," while Venezuelan troops only venture to the border area from time to time.

Gonzalez's comments follow continued criticisms from Colombia that Venezuela is lax in enforcing border security and allows the FARC to pass through the border unhindered. Tensions between the two countries escalated in July, when Colombia alleged before the Organisation of American States (OAS) that FARC and ELN guerrilla leaders were hiding out in Venezuela.

The accusations prompted Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to break all ties with his western neighbor.

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/11310-venezuelan-army-no-match-for-the-farc.html

This story contains two lies: One is suggests that there are FARC in Venezuela. Two, it says that Chavez broke ties with Colombia over Colombia's accusation that Venezuela harbors FARC. As Judi Lynn has pointed it, the reason for the tensions between Colombia and Venezuela is La Macarena.

[bemildred]

1. I don't understand why Colombia expects Venezuela to be better at policing the border than it is.

It seems to me it is Venezuela that has the legitimate gripe here, they are the ones with Colombia's civil war spilling over into their territory, not the other way around.

[naaman fletcher]

2. I agree with you.

Yet, it is worth noting the possibility that Venezuela is harboring FARC since there are pictures of Chavez loving on FARC members. Yet, instead of your obvious and good point, we typically hear denials that FARC is there at all.

[bemildred]

6. Well, I don't find any of the following statements implausible:

1.) FARC soldiers have a qualitative advantage vis-a-vis the Venezuelan military, fifty years of guerilla war will do that. Venezuela has very little active military experience in all of its history, and most of that was shooting enraged and poorly armed peasants, none of that recently either.

2.) Ditto the Colombian military vis-a-vis Venezuelan military.

3.) The Venezuelan government is not greatly interested in interfering with FARC, as long as FARC doesn't make domestic trouble for them, on several different grounds, both ideological and pragmatic.

4.) FARC has every incentive to try to involve Colombia's neighbors in the war, and uses cross border areas as refuges and staging areas (like the Taliban in Afghanistan for example do in Pakistan.) It's a military cliche to do that in these guerilla wars. Vietnam-Cambodia is another. One of the strategic disadvantages the LTTE had in Sri Lanka was the lack of such foreign refuges/staging areas. OTOH, FARC/ELN control large portions of Colombia, and have done so for decades, despite the resources thrown against them; and FARC/ELN have almost excessive opportunities in the way of foreign refuges and staging areas, a fact that does much to explain their durability under pressure.

5.) Colombia is unlikely to make any substantive progress in its long-running guerilla war without the vigorous cooperation of its neighbors: Brazil, Ecuador, Edit: Peru, Venezuela. They could of course also resort to negotiations and de-militarization/politicization of the conflict, as has been done in other countries with pernicious and long-standing internal disputes, but that will require accomodations in political power structures too.

While I understand the Colombian government's unhappiness about the situation, I don't really see that the Venezuelan government owes them much of anything in this regard, and I would suggest that negotiations and give-and-take would get more done that threats and poorly-reasoned recriminations, an idea that Mr Santos seems at present to be pursuing. Mr Santos does have the advantage that he is not so emotionally attached to the idea that Mr Uribe's policies made substantive positive change in the situation, rather than just pushing things in here and seeing them pop out over there.

First move for Colombia's Santos: Reconcile with Venezuela's Chávez

http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Americas/2010/0810/First-move-for-Colombia-s-Santos-Reconcile-with-Venezuela-s-Chavez

[naaman fletcher]

7. A good post. I agree. nt

[CJvR]

3. Technically yes.

It is a Colombian matter spilling over into Venezuela. But it is doing so because Venezuela is unable / unwilling to secure it's borders and territory. Now you could cut a deal allowing Colombian troops to hunt FARC in the outback, Iraq and Turkey had such a deal regarding Kurdish rebels. You could step up security if you are able to, although the Venezuelan military seems more geared to conventional warfare than COIN operations so the result is in doubt. Or you could simply do nothing - in which case FARC will continue to build bases and support structures until they either trigger a war with Colombia or a Venezuelan civil war.

Saying it is someone elses problem doesn't solve the problem.

[bemildred]

5. One could just as easily say "Colombia is unable / unwilling to secure it's borders and territory".

And with better grounds for doing so.

[CJvR]

8. Unable perhaps.

But hardly unwilling given the long years of hard fighting, even ruthless fighting as many point out. Naturally it is a bit hard to corner and destroy someone who have a safe nearby bolt hole to run to when things get to hot. As long as Venezuela dont seem particulary keen on doing anything about NARC activities and refuses Colombia permission to act against them the problem will only get worse.

[bemildred]

9. An arguable point.

It's a very long border, with five other nations (I left out Panama above), and "unable" is certainly a much stronger case than "unwilling". It seems likely that the Colombian government would want control of all of the territory it claims, most governments do want that. Nevertheless, not having adequate means is a very good reason to be unwilling to do something even though one would like to do it.

And the same argument can be applied to Venezuela and its border with Colombia, it is not at all clear that Venezuela is able to close its border with Colombia, or perhaps not at a cost that makes the attempt worthwhile from a Venezuelan point of view.

[Peace Patriot]

4. Colombia has rebuffed and sabotaged every effort of the international community

to achieve a peace agreement in Colombia's 40+ year civil war. The Chavez government in particular has gone the extra mile in trying to make peace--and has had nothing but treachery in return. So it is totally outrageous for Colombia to now blame their bloody civil war on Venezuela!

For instance, back in 2007, Colombia's Uribe lured Chavez into negotiating with the FARC guerillas for hostage releases--publicly ASKED him to help with this. He agreed. He began negotiations with the FARC for the release of hostages, and, then, a few days before the first two hostages were to be released, Uribe suddenly withdrew his request, Donald Rumsfeld published an op-ed in the Washington Post stating that Chavez's help "is not welcome in Colombia," and the Colombian military sent rocked fire at the location of the first two hostages, while they were in route to their freedom, sending them back on a 20 mile hike into the jungle!

And that is not the end of it. Chavez got a total of 6 hostages released, but then he had to stop because of the hostility of the Colombian government and military. Raul Reyes, the FARC's hostage negotiator, wanted to continue, however, because he saw an opening for a peaceful settlement of this long civil war and had been working for a peaceful settlement--mutual disarmament, release of all hostages and prisoners--for some time, convincing other FARC commanders and members to release their hostages. He set up a temporary camp just inside Ecuador's border for the release of Ingrid Betancourt and other hostages. Betancourt's family had been notified. French, Spanish and Swiss envoys were in Ecuador, on their way to the camp, to receive Betancourt, when someone in the Colombian military warned them off. That night, the U.S./Colombia dropped ten 500 lb U.S. "smart bombs" on Reyes' camp and raided over the border to shoot any survivors in the back. The Ecuadoran military found a deeply cratered camp site with dead bodies in their pajamas shot in the back. A total of 25 SLEEPING people had been murdered in this attack, including Reyes.

And that is not yet the end of it. Months later, Colombia claimed to have seized Raul Reyes' laptop (later, laptopS) from the bombed out campsite, and started streaming accusations into the corpo-fascist press that Hugo Chavez and Rafael Correa (president of Ecuador) were "terrorist lovers"--were helping the FARC to get a "dirty bomb," were taking money from the FARC, were giving money TO the FARC--wild, incoherent accusations--from a completely debunked source: the "miracle laptop" (later, laptopS).

Uribe enticed Chavez to contact the FARC, then blamed him for contacting the FARC. (And, frankly, I think Rumsfeld designed this--a pet project of his "Office of Special Plans-in-exile.")

Colombia DOES NOT WANT PEACE. War is their gravy train. They are getting $7 BILLION in U.S. taxpayer-funded military aid to slaughter not just FARC guerillas, but also trade unionists, human rights advocates, teachers, community organizers, peasant farmers and others, and to force 5 MILLION peasant farmers from their land, with state terror, in the interest of Monsanto, Chiquita, Occidental Petroleum, Exxon Mobil, et al, and the big, protected drug lords.

Neither do U.S. war profiteers want peace!

So it is truly outrageous for Uribe to come forth, in his final hours in office, spouting accusations against Venezuela and using the debunked "miracle laptopS" and other Colin Powell-type "evidence" to claim that Venezuela is "harboring" FARC guerillas!

Meanwhile, some quarter of million poor Colombians--mostly peasant farmers--have fled over the border seeking refuge in Venezuela from the Colombian military and its death squads, creating a chaotic border situation where drug and other traffickers operate, and the violence of Colombia's civil war is a constant threat.

This civil war has been going on for more than 40 years! It is time to END IT. Chavez has said so. Everybody has said so, except the parties who are most benefiting from it--U.S. and Colombian war profiteers!

And, by God, if Venezuela gets drawn into a war over this, we will know who designed it.

The new U.S. tool...um, president...in Colombia, Manuel Santos, who was Uribe's Defense Minister during much of the Colombian military/death squad horror AND the sabotaging of peace, by blowing away Raul Reyes' camp, seems to have pulled back from the brink. Immediately upon his inauguration, he met with Chavez and they signed an accord. I don't trust Santos for a moment. I think he is a snake in the grass. But at least the threat of war--a Colombian military incursion into Venezuela, which would leave Venezuela with little choice but to shoot back--has been put into abeyance. HOWEVER, the secretly negotiated U.S./Colombia military agreement--signed by Uribe and U.S. (Bushwhack) ambassador William Brownfield, last year--permits the U.S. military to occupy at least seven military bases in Colombia, U.S. military use of all civilian infrastructure in Colombia and total diplomatic immunity for all U.S. military personnel and U.S. military 'contractors' no matter what they do in Colombia (of which there are said to be some 1,500--called U.S. military 'advisors'--just like in Vietnam in the early 1960s). This agreement has been challenged in the Colombian courts and could be ruled unconstitutional, but the promoters of the agreement have said that the agreement merely ratifies EXISTING arrangements. So the U.S. military is already operating in Colombia, and will not likely be dislodged, in my opinion--no matter what the courts say. The situation remains a tinderbox.