Evo Morales has interjected himself into the recent Colombia-Venezuela political crisis. Speaking to the Bolivian press, Evo underlined that Bolivia is a pacifist country but is prepared to defend itself if drawn into the Colombia-Venezuela conflict. This was an odd statement to make for a strictly pacifist country (as Bolivia’s constitution proclaims), but also because Bolivia borders neither country & is nearly a thousand miles away from the conflict.
For some time, Colombia (under Uribe) has claimed that Venezuela (under Chávez) is harboring—perhaps even colluding w/—FARC guerrillas. Last week, Colombia laid out some pretty damning evidence to the OAS. Chávez has continuously denied the claims, though he has frequently mobilized military forces to the Colombian border (Colombia hasn’t responded) & proclaimed itself ready to go to war, if provoked.
Meanwhile, Ecuador (which also shares a border w/ Colombia) has been cooperating w/ Colombia’s armed forces, working to eliminate FARC guerrillas in their border region. This despite a flareup in 2008 after Colombia forces crossed—unannounced—into Ecuadorian territory to carry out a raid. During that crisis, Venezuela—but not Ecuador—mobilized troops to its border (Chávez gave the order on his Aló Presidente television show).The crisis was averted, and Ecuador & Colombia have developed a close working relationship rooting out FARC bases.
So this crisis is somewhat baffling. For all the fanfare about Venezuela’s recent military purchases, they pale in comparison to Colombia’s, both in quantity ($10 billion to $3 billion) & quality (Colombia has stocked up for years on sophisticated equipment useful for jungle counterinsurgency warfare; Venezuela has been shopping for Soviet-era assault rifles & battle tanks). Any conflict between the two countries would likely be brief (as have all wars in South America since the devastating 1932-1935 Chaco war between Bolivia & Paraguay), but it would also like end badly for Venezuela.
This makes Evo’s comments all the more puzzling. In his comments, he made clear that he found Colombia the aggressor & took a firm stance beside Chávez (an odd move for a “pacifist” country). But this suggests he expects Colombia to attack Bolivia. But why? The southernmost point of Colombia’s frontier lies nearly a thousand miles from Bolivia. And to cross into Bolivia would require Colombian forces to go through Brazilian territory. Brazil is the region’s military-political-economic juggernaut. Surely Colombia wouldn’t risk the ire of Brazil (the only Latin American country to crack the top 10 in global military expenditures) to attack Bolivia. Or does Evo expect a Colombia-Venezuela war to quickly become a regional conflict? That’s the most unlikely of all possible outcomes to this conflict.
For more on the Colombia-Venezuela conflict, see: Bloggings by Boz, Two Weeks Notice, and Just the Facts.
All reasonable questions, Miguel. I can't think of one reasonable (Evo) answer to any of them...
Hillary Clinton's visit to Ecuador suggest a thaw in Ecuador-US ties, whether it affects their ties with Colombia and Venezuela remains to be seen. Correa even called her "Dearest Hillary". But Correa has his own issues at home to deal with, from the looks of it.
More recently, Nicaragu's Ortega has threatened to intervene (on Venezuela's behalf) in the conflict. That's even more bizarre. Chávez is stoking the fire. But it's unclear why other regional presidents want to join him.
Ortega's another one- he's far removed from the Revolution he led three decades ago. The Ortega-Aleman pact in Nicaragua, which is all about gaining and retaining power for power's sake, just shows how rhetoric and practice can be so different.
"Bolivia is a pacifist country but is prepared to defend itself if drawn into the Colombia-Venezuela conflict" was an odd statement to make for a strictly pacifist country.Thanks for your sharing
glock
It really doesn't matter what kind of North Face Jackets For Women you get as long as you are happy with them. With so many places selling True religion jeans one of them just has to have a pair to fit you at a price you can afford. When wintertime is here it is a bit harder to find jeans on sale for a cheap price because everyone is trying to keep their North Face Jackets For men and companies know they will buy them for this reason so they usually wont have sales on them. They do have sales on them in the winter but you just have to take time to find the sales.
Bolivia stands on the right place. As a citizen of a pacifist country, I believe that all disputes can be settled peacefully. - Mike Dillard Review
I think that Bolivia should intervene only as a mediator waste king garbage disposal and to prevent any further tension between the two countries.
Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (born October 26, 1959), popularly known as Evo (), has been the President of Bolivia since 2006. .... World War I was a military conflict centered on Europe that began in the summer of 1914 watch online tv
This has been a dispute for a long time. They have to do a better job controlling this in the future. I see so many changes that need to be done to get it done. Toronto Condos for Sale