By Rebecca Theodore:

Behold! The tyrant of the Andes -- Hugo Chavez. Staring into the mirror of mirrors, he laments on his misery because the natural order within him is disturbed. A soul dominated by mad lust and egoism. Oppressed by his own fanatic and narcissistic ambitions, he sees the reflection of eccentric objects – he sees Colombia’s TV soap opera featuring a troublesome dog called ‘little Hugo’. He sees Bogota granting the US military access to expand the fight against drug trafficking. He breaks the mirror in disbelief. He is raised to the absolute power that corrupts absolutely mantra -- the eerie talent that employs divisive rhetoric, hostilities and untold sufferings to humanity.
 

And like a wild wind blowing in disarray, the deadly Andean winds are calling out the shadows of war. Talks of breaking diplomatic ties and nationalization of Colombian companies have not diminished. Chavez’s tirade of open hostility towards Colombia has not subsided. Colombia is the cause of all the ills in Latin America. The winds of war are rashly sweeping by. Chávez characterizes the increased US military presence a threat to his country's national security. He speaks openly of an impending war.

Deemed the ‘Israel of the Andes’, Colombia is facing isolation in the region as it is surrounded by increasingly antagonistic neighbors. Reviled by Ecuador's leader Rafael Correa, Evo Morales of Bolivia and Nicaragua's Daniel Ortega, Colombia's decision to allow the US military to base itself in the country to tackle drug trafficking and leftist guerrillas in the region is not only interpreted as a security threat but has made the situation worse ever since Bogota-Caracas relations were fueled by allegations from the past Uribe administration that the Venezuelan government supplied Swiss anti-aircraft rocket launchers to the FARC.

There has not only been an escalating war of words between the governments of Venezuela and Colombia over the humiliating soap opera and the deteriorating security conditions along their shared 1,375-mile border but the biting winds of treason and threats to regional stability are blowing more on Colombia as Mr Chávez fortifies his argument that American officials are using Colombia to portray him as a supporter of terrorist groups to justify a US military intervention in Venezuela.

Although relations between Columbia’s Juan Manuel Santos and Chavez have improved tremendously, it is still feared that American presence in the area heightens tensions that might escalate into armed conflict between Venezuela, Colombia and the US.

As a disciple of Iran and Moscow, Chavez’s threat of war in the Andes should not be taken lightly as it is not only a politics of words and ideology but of facing up to the entrenched alliances that Venezuela has paved with Russia and Iran.

Now that Venezuela has emerged as one of the southern hemisphere’s largest terrorist havens and a strategic focal point in Iran’s war against Israel and the United States, with roots firmly rooted by Iran and Hezbollah, the yo-yo effect continues against the US. While the US continues to support Colombian interests, Russia is deliberately arming Venezuela. As the US works to resist and detach Hamas’ presence in the region, Moscow is holding talks with its leaders, and treating terrorists as genuinely elected officials. As the US tries to install its ambassador Larry Palmer as the effective interlocutor to improve relations with Venezuela, Chavez stands by his decision to veto his appointment.

Commentators are now expressing mounting anxiety that the besieged Venezuelan regime of President Hugo Chávez is exploiting the explosive security environment in the region, especially at a time that Chavez is ruling Venezuela by decree for 18 months. As critics lament, this move turns the country into a near-dictatorship. It gives Chavez the right to govern without referring to congress for a year and blocks the opposition from any significant role in Venezuela politics until just months before the 2012 presidential elections.

Chavez’s plan of turning Venezuela into a socialist state now allows him to ratify measures involving telecommunications, the banking system, information technology, the military, and still considers it his moral duty of telling fellow leaders that the “winds of war are continuing to blow” because of an accord between Bogota and Washington.

While history will judge Venezuela ruthlessly for endangering the future of the Andes, Colombia's diplomatic and commercial relations with its neighbors continue to crumble and in the meantime the ravaging winds of war blowing between Venezuela and Colombia and the leftist leaders of the Andes intensifies. The real question is – Should the US further strengthen its Colombian ally in the face of escalating anti Americanism in Latin America?

January 26, 2011

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