"it’s the school of the upside down world-they call us the menacing aggressors"-Chavez, re Colombia

[Peace Patriot]

Some interesting items in this article...

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Venezuela Declares Commitment to Peace and Dialogue, Prepares Defense of Natural Resources

Published on November 15th 2009, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com

Mérida, November 13, 2009 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- In response to Colombia’s complaint to the United Nations about Venezuela’s “threats of war” earlier this week, Venezuela reiterated its intention to promote peaceful international relations while defending its sovereignty against a potential attack from Colombia, which recently signed a military pact with the United States.

Several Venezuelan officials publicly declared this week that Colombia had intentionally distorted President Hugo Chavez’s assertions from last Sunday, when Chavez said that Venezuela is prepared to defend itself and its large oil, gas, and mineral reserves against foreign aggression. Venezuelan Foreign Relations Minister Nicolas Maduro called Colombia’s complaint to the U.N. part of a “script for a dirty war against Venezuela,” and said Colombia is attempting to divert attention from its military deal with the U.S.

“From the moral point of view, for our region, for the world, and for Colombians, it is impossible to justify completely handing over Colombia and turning it into a military platform for the U.S.,” said Maduro.

Maduro added that the Venezuelan Armed Forces are organized around a “fundamentally defensive concept,” and emphasized “the pacifist vocation of solidarity and cooperation of Chavez and his government is well known in South American and the Caribbean.”

President Chavez said Colombia’s accusations were paradoxical. “They condemn as aggressors those who are threatened and attacked... it’s the school of the upside down world... they call us the menacing aggressors,” said Chavez.

On October 30th, Colombia and the U.S. signed a deal that will expand U.S. military operations on seven Colombian bases and grant immunity to U.S. personnel. While the U.S. state department says the operations will be confined to combating drug trafficking and insurgents in Colombia, U.S. Air Force budgetary documents reveal plans for “full spectrum operations” and clandestine intelligence gathering across the hemisphere.

On Sunday, Chavez warned the U.S. government that starting a war with Venezuela could provoke a disastrous regional war, and he ordered the Venezuelan armed forces to prepare to defend Venezuela against a potential attack.

In response, the Colombian Foreign Relations Ministry sent a letter to Austrian Ambassador to the U.N. Thomas Mayr-Harting, who heads the U.N. Security Council, denouncing “Venezuela’s threats of the use of force against Colombia.” Colombia sent a similar letter to the Organization of American States.

A diplomat from the Austrian mission to the U.N. confirmed that Colombia’s letter had been received and distributed to the members of the Security Council, but said that the letter did not call for any specific actions by the U.N.

Venezuela has repeatedly argued that the U.S. plans to use its military power to destabilize left-leaning governments in Latin America and, in the words of Trade Minister Eduardo Saman, “take control of our oil and our natural riches.”

“We Venezuelans must be prepared to defend our natural resources in the face of the imminent threat of an attack against our country by an empire that is in crisis,” Saman told the press on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, Venezuelan Communications Minister Blanca Eekhout said that the U.S. seeks to provoke a war between Colombia and Venezuela in order to disrupt the process of economic and political integration that Venezuela and other anti-imperialist governments are carrying out in South America.

Eekhout reaffirmed Venezuela’s commitment to dialogue and opposition to war. “Venezuela does not want war between brothers. It will not accept a fratricidal war, and for this reason the Venezuelan state has always sought mechanisms of dialogue,” said Eekhout in a press conference.

The minister also said the “exportation” of Colombia’s four decade-old civil war to Venezuela “has been a means of trying to disturb the development and balance that this nation needs in order to create the democracy and the socialist republic that we are constructing.”

For many years, illegal armed groups from Colombia, including right wing paramilitaries and leftist insurgents, as well as drug traffickers and civilian refugees have illegally crossed into Venezuelan territory, causing diplomatic tensions between the two countries.

During a U.N. debate on the effects of armed conflict on civilian populations on Thursday, Venezuela’s ambassador to the U.N., Jorge Valero, said the Colombia-U.S. military deal could intensify Colombia’s four decade-old civil war, which has driven three million Colombian refugees into Venezuela, according to U.N. figures.

“The government of Colombia has been capable of ceding its sovereignty before accepting the existence of an internal armed conflict in its country that produces terrible displacements of human beings,” said Valero.

On Friday, thousands of Venezuelans from the largest political party in the country, the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, marched in Caracas to express their opposition to the military deal between Colombia and the U.S.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4931
(emphasis added)

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Chavez Rejects U.S. Mediation in Venezuela-Colombia Spat, U.S. Withdrawal is “Only Solution”

Published on November 17th 2009, by Kiraz Janicke - Venezuelanalysis.com

Caracas, November 16th, 2009 (Venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that the only “practical solution” to tensions with neighbouring Colombia, which escalated as a result of an October 30 military pact between the U.S. and Colombian governments, is an “immediate” end to the deal.

The agreement, which allows U.S. military access to seven air, naval and army bases in Colombia and grants full immunity to U.S. personnel, is a “pact for war,” and will give the U.S. carte blanche to conduct military operations that could jeopardize the sovereignty and integrity of neighbouring countries, the Venezuelan president said.

Chavez was responding to comments by U.S. State Department Spokesperson Ian Kelly who said on Friday that the U.S. is disposed to mediate between Venezuela and Colombia to find “practical solutions” to the conflict.

Kelly’s proposal is another demonstration of Washington’s “cynicism,” Chavez told the press after exercising his right to vote in the elections of delegates to the second congress of his United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) in Caracas.

“The U.S. government is the champion of cynicism,” Chavez said, assuring that “Venezuela’s sovereignty is not up for discussion, nor will it be negotiated with any other country.”

“United States, if you want practical solutions, withdraw the Yankee bases in Colombia and free those fraternal people, free Colombia,” said Chavez.

U.S. and Colombian officials deny that Colombia will be used as a launch pad for military interventions in other South American countries, and say the agreement is designed to fight drug trafficking and fight left-wing guerrillas in the Andean nation.

However, this is contradicted by the 2010 fiscal year budget of the US Air Force Military Construction Program, which states that access to the Palanquero air base through the pact “provides a unique opportunity for full spectrum operations in a critical sub region of our hemisphere” and “supports mobility missions by providing access to the entire continent.”

Last week Chavez said that Venezuela, the largest oil producer in Latin America, would defend itself and its resources from the threat of a U.S. invasion from Colombian territory by reorganizing the armed forces and arming civil militias.

If Venezuelans “want peace, we must prepare for war…this will be the guarantee for peace,” he said.

Chavez also ordered an increased military presence in the border state of Tachira after two Venezuelan National Guard members were shot dead by armed gunmen at a checkpoint. The Venezuelan government said the killings were the work of Colombian paramilitaries.

Colombia in turn complained to the U.N. and the Organisation of American States alleging that Chavez’s comments amounted to “war threats.”

Venezuelan Foreign Relations Minister Nicolas Maduro responded that Colombia’s complaint to the U.N. is “immoral” and is aimed at diverting attention from its military deal with the U.S.

Chavez argued a dialogue with the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is “impossible…Never has a government, and there have been many right-wing governments in this continent over the centuries, sunk to such a level, as the government in Colombia…. it betrays its own people, the spirit of the people of Colombia and the peoples of South America.”

Chavez also dismissed Colombia’s claims that he is threatening war. “I’m not calling for any war. The gringo empire is calling for war. I’m calling for the defence of the sacred land that is Venezuela,” he said. “I’m obligated to call on all Venezuelans to prepare for combat to defend the homeland, if not, who will?”

Chavez also criticised what he described as the “despicable attitude” of right-wing opposition parties in Venezuela who have welcomed the installation of the U.S. bases, “because of their opposition to the Bolivarian Revolution they support the plans of aggression against this continent… They do not have the slightest dose of dignity or self respect.”

Venezuela is a country of peace, he reiterated. “We do not want wars, our wars are fighting are against hunger, against misery, against insecurity, crime, drug trafficking, these are our wars, a war for social justice, for life.”

Chavez also repeated his call for U.S. President Barack Obama to give back the Nobel Peace Prize, “out of dignity, decorum, respect,” because “he keeps sending more troops to Afghanistan and the war is spreading across this part of Eurasia, Pakistan, in Iraq they are still bombing children and entire families, and they are supporting the coup in Honduras.”

In a further response to Kelly, Chavez argued that the upcoming elections in Honduras are a “farce” designed to “legitimise” and “buy time” for the coup government, which ousted the democratically elected President Manuel Zelaya on June 28.

“We support the elections process there,” Kelly said last week, referring to Honduras. “We have provided technical assistance. ... These elections will be important to restoring Democratic and constitutional order in Honduras.”

“The U.S. is writing the script,” and pressuring other governments such as Panama to recognise the results, but Venezuela will not recognise any government in Honduras other than that of Manuel Zelaya, “the legitimate government of Honduras,” Chavez stated.

http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/4933
(emphasis added)

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Two of the most notable things that I've highlighted, above, are that Venezuela is dealing with THREE MILLION refugees from Colombia's civil war--an enormous displacement crisis--which would certainly be exacerbated by US/Colombia aggression against Venezuela. And another is that having to deal with aggression by Colombia--even if it does not escalate into a US war--would be extremely disruptive of economic integration efforts in South America, which is very likely an Obama/Clinton goal. Our global corporate predators don't want to have to deal with an EU type of organization in Latin America, which is exactly what Communications Minister Eekhout is talking about, above, and what South American leaders formalized last summer--UNASUR.

A third: I didn't know that the rightwing opposition in Venezuela was supporting the establishment of SEVEN new US military bases in Colombia. The dogs! Really, what traitorous trash they are! It would be good for the Chavez government to have a "loyal opposition" but they do not have that. They have an opposition ready to make deals with the US and Colombia, to topple the Chavez government and install themselves in power.

A fourth: This smarmy, corporate, "win/win" garbage from the Obama administration, of arming Colombia to the teeth--$6 BILLION in US military aid--negotiating a secret deal for SEVEN more US military bases in Colombia--and, when the adjacent country objects, suggesting they "sit down and dialogue." This is so like the Honduran coup. Install a brutal rightwing junta, and then, 'Let's talk'--while we stab you in the back. Chavez is right to call the US on this bullshit. He has ever been ready to talk to Uribe and Colombia, and has tried many times--and even seemed successful at certain points--then had to pull the knife out of his back.

Fifth: I'm glad that Foreign Minister Maduro said the following: "The Venezuelan Armed Forces are organized around a 'fundamentally defensive concept,' and emphasized 'the pacifist vocation of solidarity and cooperation of Chavez and his government is well known in South American and the Caribbean.'” This is very true and is not well known here; indeed, is in the nature of suppressed news here. The Chavez government is extremely peaceful (in fact, Chavez has been called "the great peacemaker") and it is devoted to social justice and cooperation. It always looks for the cooperative solution. It doesn't bully its way around like the US does. It helps other leaders and peoples, and promotes empowerment of the poor majority which has been so long excluded, often brutally, often with US support, by rich elites. In fact, that is the problem in Colombia--brutal exclusion of the poor majority, with US support, by the rich elites. Peace cannot be achieved without social justice. Peace without social justice is not peace. And Chavez is the number one advocate of social justice and peace in Latin America. He even tried to broker a peace in Colombia's 40+ year civil war, and got treated like shit for his trouble. He was trying to BACK Uribe up, but Uribe did not and does not want peace. Conflict and war are Colombia's gravy train in the US.

Sixth: Trade Minister Saman's description of the US as "an empire in crisis." That is both interesting as a statement of Venezuela's view of the US, and it is certainly true. The Bushwhacks destroyed the rule of law and social decency here and looted us beyond measuring. Every institution and project that made us a prosperous and progressive country--schools, libraries, hospitals and medical centers, all infrastructure, our manufacturing capability, health, safety and environmental regulation, emergency services, labor protections, justice system--has been trashed and is in crisis. Apparently, Venezuelans are perceiving that the last resort of "empires in crisis" is war. And there is certainly a lot of evidence that ours is not done with inflicting such horrors on yet another region.

[Braulio]

1. Who is always threatening war?

The question is, who threatens war during his speeches? Chavez does. For example, when Colombia raided the FARC camp in Ecuador, Chavez gave orders to send troops to the Colombian border. He has cut off commerce with Colombia, even though Colombia continues to sell natural gas and electricity to Venezuela. Chavez is very worried the Venezuelan economy is in recession and his popularity is waning, thus his reponse is to create external tensions. It's an old politicians' trick.

[Peace Patriot]

2. Chavez has a 62% approval rating! His popularity is not "waning."

Poll of three days ago.

Regarding the Ecuador incident, Lulu da Silva called Chavez "the great peacemaker" for his role in preventing that war--a war that the Bushwhacks clearly wanted to start. You blame Chavez for protecting Venezuela's borders, after the US/Colombia dropped ten 500 lb US "smart bombs" on Ecuador's territory? He would have been guilty of malfeasance in his fundamental duty of protecting Venezuela's national security if he had not done so. Nobody expected that attack. Nobody was warned. It came out of the blue. Ecuador also rushed troops to its borders. They had no idea what was going on. But as soon as was possible, Chavez began diplomatic efforts to calm the president of Ecuador down (a new, young and inexperienced president whose country had just been attacked) and to take the matter to the Rio Group--an all-Latin American dispute resolution group. I've watched that tape. Rafael Correa is still steaming. So are some others. But Chavez is all smiles and backslapping with Uribe (who had just been roundly condemned by everybody). He is clearly trying to dampen the fires. And everybody knows this about Chavez. There has never been the slightest hint from any other leader or country that the Chavez government is a threat to anybody. And it is the overwhelming opinion of other South American leaders that this US military buildup in Colombia, and also the US 4th Fleet in the Carribbean, ARE a threat, and that Colombia is wrong to invite this threat into their midst.

You seem to be getting your information from superficial headlines in the corpo-fascist press. I suggest that you do more research before jumping in with an uniformed opinion.

As for Venezuela being in a recession, everybody is in a recession! The question is, who is going to pull out first--the countries that have been looted blind by the "neo-liberal" banksters and corporate predators, or the countries that refused their rancid advice and maintained control of their resources, their finance system and their sovereignty? My bets are on the latter--Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Brazil and their allies. They thought ahead. They put money away. They invested in people. They moved fast to shut down ponzi schemes, or never permitted them in the first place. They are going to land on their feet. And the countries that US corporate predators and banksters have been allowed to freely ravage--including our own--are suffering a depression, not a mere recession.

[EFerrari]

3. We've seen how this "win/win" mendacious crQp played out in Honduras.

It seems to be how the Obama administration will move.