I find it almost humorous the current saber rattling on the northeast coast of South America.
The Colombiam military successful struck a FARC rebel base and killed the No. 2 man in the FARC organizational structure. Granted, the FARC base was maybe 3 kilometers inside Ecuador, but then the U.S. just hit a suspected Al Qaeda hangout in Africa, so what is the difference.
Ecuador admits that the camp was in its territory. Ecuador admits that government of Colombia advised its government that the action had taken place and apologized for the necessity of entering Equadorian air space and territory in order to accomplish the mission.
Now, it seems that they are upset that the attack apparently took place in early morning hours when everyone was asleep. I guess it is not macho enough to wake the rebels up and give them the chance to vamoose.
Now, Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela decides to get involved. Is this some form of comic opera or what. The Venezuelans send 10 battalions, at some of them armored units, to the border to fend off the evil Colombians and to protect the sanctuary for FARC bases it wants along the common border. Then the close the border to economic traffic. I am not sure who this hurts worse: the Venezuelans or the Colombians. Still it is a bit like cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Chavez, on the other hand, is following a familiar template for petty dictators. Create a foreign devil, create a foreign enemy for the masses to rally against and forget the failings of the dictator's government to provide a stable economy and justify its actions as necessary sacrifices in order to carry the fight to the enemy.
If it wasn't so serious (in that a lot of people could get killed in this soap opera), this would be so funny.
