Peaceful, albeit Disgusting Resolution to Columbia Crisis
What could have resulted in a multi-national conflaguration in South America ended in a whimper when the heads of the nations of Columbia, Venezuela and Ecuador shook hands, de-escalating the crisis.
Latin American Crisis Resolved
Colombia Apologizes At Regional SummitBy Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, March 8, 2008; Page A09Bogota, Colombia—The presidents of Colombia, Ecuador and Venezuela on Friday agreed to end a bitter standoff that had resulted in troop
deployments, a downturn in trade and a rupture in diplomatic relations.The crisis began after Colombia bombed a rebel camp last Saturday just inside Ecuador, killing 24 guerrillas, including Luis Edgar Devia, a top
commander. The strike marked the first time the army had killed a member of the directorate of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, a
guerrilla group that has been fighting here for 44 years.Colombian President Alvaro Uribe had come under criticism from various Latin American governments for the incursion, but at a regional summit in the
Dominican Republic on Friday he heartily shook hands with Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Nicaraguan
President Daniel Ortega. All three of those nations had broken relations with Colombia over the incident.
In a pattern that has existed as long as there were communists, Ecuador was harboring Marxist guerillas, who were lavishly funded by Chavezs’ petro bucks, and those terrorists would raid into Columbia, causing death, terror and political instability.
When Columbia nailed a few of the roaches, instead of hanging their heads in shame, the culprits of Venezuela and Ecuador bleated that they were being attacked and pounded the war drums.
Thus the most galling part of this denouement is that the victim here has had to grovel, effectively apologizing to the rapists…
The resolution of the crisis, at a meeting of the 20-nation Rio Group, came in the form of a declaration that noted Uribe had apologized for the raid and that he promised never to violate another nation’s border. “With the apology and the promise of never again violating a brother country, we have overcome this very grave crisis,” said Correa, in comments that were broadcast live across much of Latin America.
Yes, but if that part of the world has dodged a bullet, is it really over? Far from it.
Although the meeting ended on a positive note, the most serious issue raised
in the debate—that Colombian rebels operate with the help of foreign governments—has not been resolved and is sure to fester.
Absolutely. Counter-guerilla operations on Columbias’ part is going to be hampered, which is a cryin shame. This is a classic Special Operations mission: counter-insurgency and interdiction. Politically it has been botched.
This could have been the opportunity to call the aggressors on the carpet and even take them clean out had a shooting war begun.
My guess is that while Columbia was getting lip-service and political support from Washington, those two squadrons of F-22 Raptors never materialized onto Columbia’s tarmacs.... a Big Stick that would have spoken with far greater potency than anything put out by any press office.
Bush, for whatever reason, perhaps because we are so heavily engaged in the Middle East and closely monitoring (are we?) a very dangerous and unstable North Korea, along with an ever-more aggressive Red China, has decided not to commit resources to save a deserving ally.
Teddy Roosevelt is rolling in his grave right about now.
Carrick
JazzyKat
nunez
Craig
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