No place for Washington in Colombia-Venezuela row

[Judi Lynn]

No place for Washington in Colombia-Venezuela row
A process of South American diplomacy could resolve the Colombia-Venezuela dispute. The US should keep its distance

Mark Weisbrot guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday 28 July 2010 14.30

In March I wrote about the Obama administration's contribution to the election campaign under way in Venezuela, where voters will choose a new national assembly in September. I predicted that certain things would happen before September, among them some new "discoveries" that Venezuela supports terrorism. Venezuela has had 13 elections or referenda since Hugo Chávez was first elected in 1998, and in the run-up to most of them, Washington has usually done something to influence the political and media climate.

The intentions were already clear on March 11, when General Douglas Fraser, the head of the US Southern Command was testifying to the US Senate. In response to a question from Senator John McCain about Venezuela's alleged support for terrorism, Fraser said:

"We have continued to watch very closely … We have not seen any connections specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct government-to-terrorist connection."

The next day he recanted his testimony after meeting with the US state department's top official for Latin America, Arturo Valenzuela.

This made it clear that the "terrorist" message was going to be a very important part of Washington's campaign. Even the Bush administration had never forced its military officers to retract their statements when they contradicted the state department's political agenda in Latin America, which they sometimes did.

Unfortunately, the campaign continues. Last Thursday, Colombia's ambassador to the Organisation of the American States (OAS) accused Venezuela at an extraordinary meeting of the OAS of harbouring 1,500 guerillas, and asked for the OAS to take action. The timing was noteworthy to many observers. President Lula da Silva of Brazil noted that it "seemed strange that this occurs a few days before Uribe leaves office. The new president has given signals that he wants to build peace . Everything was going well until Uribe made this denunciation."

More:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2010/jul/28/colombia-venezuela-washington-south-america

[Wilms]

1. So the State Dept. is cooking the books. Just like the last admin.

:shrug: