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Uribe disrupts Colombia-Venezuela relations

Published Nov 30, 2007 9:33 PM

Political developments in Colombia and Venezuela, two countries in South America that share a 1,380-mile border, are strategic to the region’s political climate and stability. This puts them also in the sights of the Bush administration and the Pentagon.

Both countries have vast natural resources. Colombia enjoys the geopolitical advantage of having both an Atlantic and a Pacific coast. Venezuela has vast oil reserves. Transnational corporations find this lure enticing.

The governments of these two countries have opposing ideologies. The neofascist President Álvaro Uribe Vélez, the closest ally of Bush in all Latin America, rules Colombia. Venezuelan President Hugo Chá­vez Frías has been promoting a revolution that aims to construct society on a socialist foundation; to Washington’s dismay, several countries in South and Central America are following Chávez’s example.

The U.S. agenda has been to destabilize the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, mostly through the funding of violent opposition groups that hide behind the mask of “democracy” in Venezuela and by U.S. political intervention. Meanwhile, Washington props up the Uribe government with more than $4 billion to date through Plan Colombia. The U.S. intervenes politically in Colombia mostly through its ambassador in Bogotá, Colombia Colombia is third in U.S. military aid after the Middle East and Afghanistan.

The U.S. goal of pitting Colombia and Venezuela against each other had failed overall until recently. Despite their differences, both countries had increased trade with each other. Both are each other’s second largest trading partners after the U.S. Several weeks ago an oil and gas pipeline was inaugurated in Colombia, a joint Colombia-Venezuela project.

Of course the U.S. has attempted to intervene. Colombian paramilitaries were caught in Caracas several years ago, planning to kill President Chávez. Other incidents in both countries pointed in the direction of a destabilization move against the Bolivarian Revolution coming from Colombia’s soil.

And now, Uribe’s abrupt and unilateral call to stop the negotiations for a Humanitarian Exchange (HE) of prisoners in Colombia’s civil war have brought the good-neighbor relations to a screeching halt. The negotiations were aimed at exchanging 45 people held by the Colombian liberation fighters known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—Popular Army (FARC-EP) and the 500 FARC members in Colombian prisons.

Humanitarian Exchange, a hope for peace in Colombia

The growing movement for a humanitarian exchange in Colombia opposes the U.S./Uribe’s plan to “rescue” those held by the guerrilla forces through military intervention. Every such military attack in the past has led to more deaths of prisoners.

It is likely this growing movement, with ample support both in Colombia and internationally, prompted Uribe to accept negotiations that could lead to the exchange. Even the conservative French President Nicolas Sarkozy applied pressure to start talks, as he had to show interest in freeing French-Colombian Ingrid Betancourt, former Colombian presidential candidate. Also, the parents of three U.S. Pentagon contractors demanded talks. The FARC-EP holds these people prisoners.

The FARC itself has said it would like the HE to lead to negotiations with the government for an eventual peace plan.


Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba,
shown above at an environmental conference
in Caracas.
WW photo: Deirdre Griswold

In mid-August, Uribe surprised observers by selecting Afro-Colombian senator Piedad Córdoba to be the Colombian government representative for the facilitation of the negotiations for the HE accord. Córdoba is an opposition leader from the Liberal Party, who has been quite vocal linking Uribe’s close government allies to paramilitary forces.

Senator Córdoba then invited President Chávez to be part of the effort. Chávez, who had volunteered himself for it, gladly accepted. Uribe approved these steps. To mediate effectively, the facilitators would have to meet with the FARC secretariat. To take the first step toward starting these talks, Senator Córdoba met with FARC spokesperson Raúl Reyes on Sept. 15.

Both Chávez and Córdoba gave priority to HE negotiations. Córdoba went to Caracas, to Paris and to Washington, where she met with FARC members Simón Trinidad and Sonia, both held in U.S. prisons. Both Trinidad and Sonia graciously told the senator that they should be removed from the list of those to be exchanged if their presence on it would interfere with the HE.

Both Chávez and Córdoba met with FARC envoys in Caracas and also went to Europe to meet with Sarkozy. Great advances were reported. Relatives of the guerillas in prison and of those held by the FARC were grateful that for the first time a serious attempt was being made to negotiate and arrange for the freedom of their loved ones. Colombians reported a tremendous sense of hope permeating the country.

During the Latin American Summit held in Chile at the beginning of November, Chávez pleaded with Uribe to be more flexible. Though Uribe had approved the negotiations, he was setting strict limits. Uribe vehemently refused to clear (demilitarize) a space in Colombia so the negotiations could take place safely without the military’s interference, as the FARC had demanded.

In mid-November, Uribe underlined his intransigence, setting a deadline of Dec. 31 for the negotiations. It was unreasonable to believe that armed conflict in existence for more than 40 years could suddenly provide for such a speedy and important action. Even Chávez mentioned many times the difficulties in communicating with the FARC, due to the intense Colombian army bombing of the jungle where the guerrillas are.

U.S. orders a halt to HE

Two days later, on Nov. 21, in an interesting but tragic turn of events, U.S. former ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield, who had been accredited as ambassador to Colombia only on Sept. 12, publicly stated, “We are two months and 22 days into this process and we still have no proof of life,” A few hours later, Uribe unilaterally announced that the negotiations were suspended and both Córdoba and Chávez were dismissed.

The excuse used by Uribe was a 30-second phone conversation between Chávez and Colombian Army General Mario Montoya. Uribe claimed that Chávez’s call to Montoya was a breach of protocol. In reality, Córdoba had placed the call as part of many she had made to Montoya in an effort to mediate.

Imagine the relatives’ abrupt loss of hope, and by extension, that of the people in Colombia who want peace. And the international community that stands in solidarity with the struggling and courageous Colombian masses. Even Sarkozy urged Uribe to reconsider.

The relatives of those held by the FARC responded to Uribe’s announcement with harsh criticism. An article in the Nov. 23 Washington Post reports that, “Jo Rosano, mother of Marc Gonsalves, one of the Americans, blamed Uribe, saying he had undercut the mediation efforts by Chávez and Colombian Sen. Piedad Córdoba, a leftist who is close to Chávez.”

“This is not the first time that he’s sabotaged this, and it won’t be the last,” Rosano said from her home in Connecticut. “Shame on him is all I can say. The eyes of the world are on him.”

Colombia-Venezuela relations

in crisis

Chávez criticized Uribe’s decision, stating that this unilateral pronunciation was not what was agreed to before. He questioned Uribe’s sincerity about reaching peace in Colombia. He also accused imperialist interference of bringing about this sudden ending.

Uribe answered with his fiercest attack so far against Chávez, accused him of pursuing an “expansionist project” for Latin America and saying that Colombia will “close its doors” to it. He also accused Chávez of “not wanting peace for Colombia but rather that Colombia be a victim of a FARC terrorist government.”

As of Nov. 27, the Venezuelan government has recalled its ambassador to Colombia for consultation. Chávez has also said that trade with Colombia might be affected.

And in the wildest turn of events, the Colombian Supreme Court cited Senator Córdoba for “treason to the Homeland” because she met with FARC representatives in her effort to mediate a HE.

This is happening at a time when the scandal of the paramilitary links of Uribe’s allies in government is at its height in Colombia.

This is also just a few days before a crucial constitutional referendum in Venezuela on Dec. 2. There is ample mass support for the referendum. Through the funding of NGO’s that fuel the viciousness of the opposition groups, Washington is intervening, aiding the much-publicized “students’” demonstrations against the referendum. These “students” are really the wealthy, business and religious representatives of the oligarchy and their children.

The mass, magnificent pro-Chávez rallies have been ignored by the corporate media, both in Venezuela and in the imperialist countries.