Chavez Calls For Cooling Of Tensions

Venezuelan, Ecuadorean, Colombian Presidents Attend Summit, Annother FARC Leader Is Dead

(AP)  Colombia's foreign minister announced Friday that a second important FARC rebel leader had been killed while earlier in the day, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called for a cooling of tensions with Colombia and predicted a summit of Latin American presidents in this seaside capital "is going to be positive."

Dominican President Leonel Fernandez opened the 20-nation Rio Group summit with a call for unity.

"What is least helpful in these moments in our Latin America ... is to act in a disunited way," Fernandez said. Uribe and Chavez, separated by two seats, listened intently.

The summit was to have focused on energy and other issues, but the diplomatic crisis in the Andes now has center stage. It was triggered by a deadly Colombian cross-border raid into Ecuador on Saturday that killed a senior Colombian rebel.

"People should go cool off a bit, chill out their nerves," Chavez told journalists at his hotel before leaving for the summit at the foreign ministry of the Dominican Republic. "I think the meeting today is going to be positive, because it is going to help the debate. We have to debate, talk, and this is the first step toward finding the road."

Chavez has ordered thousands of troops and tanks to Venezuela's border with Colombia and threatened to slash trade and nationalize Colombian-owned businesses. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa has also sent troops to the border, although Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has said he won't do the same.

The summit marks the first face-to-face encounters between Chavez, Correa and Uribe since the international crisis began.

Correa told reporters he wants Uribe to apologize for the attack in Ecuadorean territory and give his "formal and firm commitment" that Colombia will never "violate" the sovereignty of another country.

On his arrival in Santo Domingo late Thursday, Chavez took shots at Colombia and the United States, which has supported the Andean nation with more than $4 billion in counterinsurgency and anti-drug aid since 2000.

"The U.S. empire has taken over Colombia," Chavez said.

Chavez claimed the strike that killed Raul Reyes, a top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, was "planned and directed by the United States." Later, he said he had information that "gringo soldiers" participated in the attack, but provided no evidence.

U.S. Southern Command spokesman Jose Ruiz neither confirmed or denied this week that the U.S. military took part in the attack that killed Reyes and 23 others.

Uribe is hugely popular among Colombians for cracking down on the FARC, which finances itself through kidnapping and drug trafficking. He declined to comment on the crisis as he arrived in the Dominican Republic.

Uribe has defended the attack as necessary given Ecuador's inaction against Colombian rebel camps in its territory. Colombia complains that rebels take refuge across the border in Ecuador and Venezuela and has accused their leftist leaders of backing the fighters - a claim the leaders deny.

Uribe has refused to rule out future military incursions into Ecuador or Venezuela, saying he first needs assurances from Correa and Chavez that they are not harboring rebels.

The crisis widened Thursday when Nicaragua broke off relations with Colombia. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, who is also attending the summit, is an ally of Chavez and Correa.

Latin American foreign ministers on Thursday drafted a statement saying national sovereignty must be respected. The draft, to be submitted to the presidents on Friday, mirrors one earlier in the week from the Organization of American States, said Chilean Foreign Minister Alejandro Foxley.

One of the rare regional voices offering support for Colombia was Salvadoran President Tony Saca, who said the Colombian government should be able to defend its citizens.

"We need to understand Colombia has the legitimate right to go after terrorists ... wherever they may be, of course without harming the sovereignty of another country," Saca said on arrival in Santo Domingo.

Colombia's defense minister said Friday that another FARC leader had been killed by one of his own guerrillas.

"The FARC has suffered a new, major blow," Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos said at a news conference, calling Rios' death "yet another demonstration that the FARC are falling apart."

Santos said troops launched an operation designed to capture Rios on Feb. 17 after receiving tips that he was in a mountainous area straddling the western provinces of Caldas and Antioquia, and engaged the guerrillas' outer security ring seven times.

Thursday night, he said, a guerrilla known as Rojas came to the troops with Rios' severed right hand, laptop computer and ID, saying he had killed his boss three days earlier.

It was unclear what motivated Rojas to kill his boss, but Santos said it was to "relieve the military pressure" because the rebels were "surrounded, without supplies and without communication."

The U.S. State Department has a standing bounty of $5 million for Rios' capture.

In Ecuador, Security Minister Gustavo Larrea said the army captured five suspected FARC rebels on Thursday. The suspects were nabbed "a few meters from the Colombian border," in the general area where the raid took place, Larrea said.

[namesnames]

"gringo"!
now there''s a racial slur you don''t hear every day.

[neobrian-2009]

Hope They reach an Accord
Ecuador''s President Rafael Correa arrived in Lima, Peru Tuesday morning to meet with his Peruvian counterpart Alan Garcia and discuss the diplomatic crisis Ecuador is experiencing with Colombia.

President Alan Garcia has stated he is concerned over the fact that members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are crossing into foreign territory to undermine Colombia''s democracy.( From a Peru newsletter I receive weekly)

They are looking for input as how to seek a solution.
Problems are peeking All over the world,..this unrest can be attributed to a few men.

[sigotratando]

"Colombia complains that rebels take refuge across the border in neighboring countries and has accused their leftist leaders of backing the rebels - a claim the leaders deny."

If the situation of the rebels launching attacks in Columbia is so serious, and if the attackers are left alone by the govt of Ecuador, one might interpret *inaction* on such a serious situation as complicity. Aren''t acts of killing crimes in Ecuador enough to want to cooperate with neighboring states to control them?

[claranicole]

Chavez knows that he is harboring those terrorists and he fears that he will be found out and will have to justify his actions to the world. Besides, what happened in Ecuador is none of his business, he is just looking for an excuse to attack Colombia because they are USA allies and we all know how much he hates us. Besides, Let me pose a question to all, what is the right thing to do if we were to know "FOR SURE" that Osama bin Ladin is been hidding/harbored in Canada, just under a mile off the border with the USA and the Canadian government knew about it, but kept it secretly quiet... Do we ask the Canadians (why did you do that?, knowing that they were going to deny it) so we would give him the chance to escape? or do we capture him knowing EXACTLY where''s his location? Its not black and white, those terrorists from FARC are ruthless animals that have assasinated thousands of innocent lives, simply because they didnt want to join them, they even recruit little children, I did my research and I was astonished and very disturbed. They are vicious, they need to be stopped.

[itstrouble]

Shut your mouth up Chavez. Basically was the outcome of the last meeting taken among latin speaking countries. Since he never listens I am sure we will all here this again and again.

[quetzal0666]

claranicole ....

What would you do if the U.S. has been harboring an international Terrorist??
Someone who used to work for the CIA, while georgy bush sr, was head of the CIA, someone who later blew up a venezuelan airliner with people onboard to get at a target? what would you say then??....

look up, Luis Posada Carriles

[claranicole]

Quetzal0666 -
I know exactly who he is. Do we have to agree with everything our president does? We are not talking about one person here, we are talking about thousands of terrorists that are a threat to world peace, not just one single solitary guy that had no army following him. I see your point, but you failed to see mine. You seem not to have done your homework on FARC. Again, they are as ruthless as al Quaida and Colombian knew exactly where they were along with one of their main leaders. Again, what do you do if we knew where Bin Laden was, just tell your teacher?

[quetzal0666]

claranicole ...
According to some in Latin america and in Europe, our current prez is the biggest threat to world peace and indeed the biggest terrorist alive.
so ill just say that,
one mans terrorist is onother mans freedom fighter...

[jimmyc1955]

Quetzal0666 - Exactly whose freedom is FARC fighting for? It would appear that Columbia hates FARC and isn''t interested in the "freedoms" that Venezuela and Ecuador are enjoying? No freedom of press, food shortages, inflation? Yea - I can see why Columians all want part of that happiness and joy.

[jimmyc1955]

Quetzal0666 - But then when has a Marxist regime ever cared about the will of the people? Not one Marxist government has ever maintained power without force and terror. Chavez is well on his way by creating a crisis were none existed.

He now declares that there will be a complete embargo of all products from Columbia. I guess his people don''t need to eat since Columia is the largest food exporter to Venezuela, which is already suffering food shortages.

I wonder how much longer before the oil money dries up? If Chavez''s government is 1/2 as efficient with their oil as they are with food the money will begin disappearing shortly. And all the poor people who thought the streets would run with gold when Chavez came in - what happesn to them when he quits funding all those programs he made so much noise about 3 or 4 years ago.

[neobrian-2009]

Visit Venezuela,..
Make sure you cash in your Bolivars before you exit the country,..The surrounding countries won`t give you Anything for them,..If we `re not careful,..the dollar could be like this,..

[quetzal0666]

But then when has Bush''sregime ever cared about the will of the people? Not one BUSH ASdministration has ever maintained power without force and terror. Bush is well on his way by creating a crisis were none existed....

Hey that fit right in as well.....

not supporting Chavez, i think him and BUSH have more in common than meets the eye, im just saying that no one country has a right to violate the others sovereignity, how do you know the CIA was not involved,

what if Mexicos Zetas, came into the U.S. and Assasinateda known Criminal, but that criminal was
in cohutz with the U.S... you would all be crying invasion at the drop of a hat.....

[drputt45]

Hugo ''Fidel'' Chavez - maybe he can feed his people Cuban cigars (Bill has some used ones he might start with).

I don''t much care for our politicians here in the US, and I don''t much care for Hugo.

Colombia has been the victim of these rebels for years. If they have the chance to lop off the head of one of these serpents, more power to them.

[prairiefox1]

AND HIS SENDING 9000 TROOPS TO THE BORDER WAS JUST A HAPPY HOWDY?
WHAT A NUT CASE!
HE IS THE POSTER BOY OF CERTIFIABLE NUTS!
AND THE PEOPLE THAT SUPPORT HIM ARE WORSE!

[prairiefox1]

"gringo"!
now there''''s a racial slur you don''''t hear every day.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by namesnames
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
ON THE OTHER HAND LET US NOT FORGET "GREASER" FAIR IS FAIR!

[briannorwood]

Chavez wants cooling off? Oops! The mouse blinked!

[mylibu]

Sometimes there is more to a story than what you initially read

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2008/mar2008/colo-m07.shtml

[louiville2]

mylibu

A little more balanced reporting from Actual Venezuelans.

http://www.blog.vdebate.org/

[sams1231]

All Uribe wants is for Chavez and his ''friends'' to stop their defacto raids and violating the sovereignty of Columbia, by their use of the so called Columbian ''rebels''. Care to guess how many of Chavez''s men are participating in those raids? Uribe is TOTALLY within his rights to go after the ''rebels''.
As for Chavez calling for a ''cooling off'', I will bet that he has heard from The US State Dept. Why don''t we hear his POV fom CBS?

[ajmarine1]

BOGOTA, Colombia - Colombian security forces carrying out an arrest warrant Friday for a top rebel leader killed a man in a shootout and were trying to confirm his identity, an official in the chief prosecutor''s office said Friday.

The raid targeted Ivan Rios, a member of the FARC guerrillas'' ruling junta. If the body is identified as his, it would be the second member of the ruling secretariat of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to be killed in a week.

That would be a huge blow to Latin America''s oldest and strongest insurgency, shaken by the death Saturday of spokesman Raul Reyes in a cross-border raid in Ecuador that has set off an international diplomatic crisis.

[krenz4]

Chavez now wants people to chill????!!! He is the one who stirred everyone up in the first place!!!! He is a dangerous AZZ! He wants to set himself up as the great defender of the sovereignity of the homeland and the peacemaker, when he is nothing more than a troublemaker and warmonger. What a phoney!!

[scottyusa]

Chavez again proves himself to be a babbling idiot. He is trying to split north america and south america and now he is trying to split south america. He is a useless pimple that needs to be squeezed by the sane south american nations before its too late.

[ajmarine1]

Washington, D.C. %u2014 On January 28, Abu Laith al-Libi, No. 3 in Al Qaeda, was killed by a missile strike in Pakistan. Two weeks later, Lebanon%u2019s Hezbollah terror-chieftain, Imad Mugniyah, met his demise in Damascus when his car exploded. Then, on March 1, Raul Reyes, second-ranking commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia (FARC), was killed in Ecuador. Three days later, Ali Saleh Nabhan, the al Qaeda %u201Cmastermind%u201D of the 1998 attacks on our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania was killed by a missile strike in Somalia.

Despite ideological disparities and geographic separation, all these terrorists were wanted for murdering and kidnapping American citizens. They had all benefited from the patronage and protection of dictators and warlords. All were tracked down through patient, persistent intelligence work. Their deaths demonstrate contemporary relevance of Ronald Reagan%u2019s maxim following the capture of the terrorists who hijacked the Achille Lauro: %u201CYou can run, but you can%u2019t hide.%u201D

[ioweign]

Chavez again proves himself to be a babbling idiot. He is trying to split north america and south america and now he is trying to split south america. He is a useless pimple that needs to be squeezed by the sane south american nations before its too late.

Posted by scottyusa at 04:46 PM : Mar 07, 2008

He is on very thin ice in his country. No squeezing necessary - he is going to dry up...

[oreoweb678]

it seems chavaz must be bipolar. his actions change like the wind

[cfin5]

it seems chavaz must be bipolar. his actions change like the wind

Posted by oreoweb678 at 07:38 PM : Mar 07, 2008------He''s a user man. That''s how they are.

[jauchak]

In Spanish, the "ez" raw means "son of". So, Rodriguez= Son of Rodrigo; Marquez= Son of Marco; Ramirez= Son of Ramiro; Martinez= Son of Martin; Chavez= Son of a ***.

[tomanyt]

Hugo Chavez''s mother should have thrown him out with the bath water. Seriously, this guy is some kinda nut!

[libsrweak]

no wonder liberals love this guy hugo..he is nothing but a loud-mouth p ussy

[shanev137]

When is Pat Robertson going to kill him in the name of Jesus?

[stevex47]

I have a feeling something happened behind the scenes for this guy to do a 180 change of his tune.

Maybe this administration? or economic reality from cutting ties to Columbia?

[ioweign]

no wonder liberals love this guy hugo..he is nothing but a loud-mouth p ussy

Posted by libsrweak at 09:02 PM : Mar 07, 2008

"I''m the commander %u2014 see, I don''t need to explain %u2014 I do not need to explain why I say things. That''s the interesting thing about being president."

"I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we''re really talking about peace."

"If this were a dictatorship, it''d be a heck of a lot easier, just so long as I''m the dictator."

"My answer is bring them on."


From the AWOL

[libsrweak]

Posted by IOWEIGN at 11:12 PM : Mar 07, 2008
+ report abuse

*******

you just again proved my point..you and hugo are the same...if you peel all the sh*t..you get a pink gooey center..and I smell puss y..

[libsrweak]

When is Pat Robertson going to kill him in the name of Jesus?

Posted by shanev137 at 09:04 PM : Mar 07, 2008
+ report abuse

**********

I guess Pat was right when he said..a dead chavez then could had saved the world a lot of woes..ONE LESS CRIMINAL AND ONE LESS LIBERAL HERO

[ontheleft]

C''mon Chavez. I thought we were going to see $150 a barrel oil by May. Can''t you do any better? Nuke those Colombians already.

[libsrweak]

no wonder why liberals love people like saddam and chavez..pretty much like themselves..act tough and all bullsh*t..and when things gets hot..THEY WHINNNNNNNNEEEE

[libsrweak]

CINDY SHEEHAN HAS BIGGER BALLS THAN THIS BIG BAG OF SOUTH AMERICAN SOCIALIST/LIBERAL EXCREMENT.

[keithle1]

I love those TV spots that they put on during the winter about The Great Hero Chavez offering cheap oil to poor American people. One of the Kennedy clan is in it. CITGO-the Venezuelan company.

Old lady: "The water in my toilet froze last winter. Thanks to Mr. Chavez, I''m warm & toasty. So are my 500 cats!"

[ressigmann]

Chavez has worked so hard to cause this problem, it is odd that he would suddenly try to re-cast himself as a peacemaker.

[ressigmann]

to Keithle1
I am pleased you and your cats are warm, I am less than pleased that Chavez seems to have purchased your loyalty. Incidentally he doesn''t care about you (there are plenty of dirt poor people in his country he could be trying to save).

[pensacola88]

I vomit on Hugo Chavez. Who does he thing he is? He gives $300 million dollars to a top FARC narco-terrorist commander who kidnaps and murders Colombians and expects others to respect territory every time he is chased across a boudary!

Any country can go after any terrorist any time - no questions asked! Mexican President Felipe Calderon started his term in office going after narco-terrorists in Mexico and some have fled to Ecuador to run their operations over there. It is clear that they can run. It is stupid to protect them!

Hugo Chavez has a very long tail of a rat that grows longer every day!

The Colombians have acted admirably and show resolve to deal with their lawless neighbors. It is clear Venezuala and Ecuador now harbor narco-terrorists.

[itstrouble]

Chavez Calls For Cooling Of Tensions, means he is not yet ready for war. Chavez got commitments from Ecuador and Nicaragua and that was very satisfying. His war intentions will come out again, just that he needs more time before he begins the actual all out war.

[gkc99]

The Latinos are at it again! Was there ever a more incompetent and laughable group of politicians (except Bushit and the U.S. Fascist party)?

[andyli1004]

It is clear that they can run. It is stupid to protect them! Internet is a good place to share information and meet friends. I recently found a nice web site called pubspa.com where you can meet friends who have same interest in beauty care, massage, wellness and spa treatment. You can also share blog, video, game, photos, etc with people from all over the world. Unlike other online dating sites where you have to pay membership fee, this site is totally free. I already made several interesting friends there.

[libsrweak]

my assessment of the matter is: chavez had overestimated his tactic. Hoping that the ''world'' would react in fear. Like they said..''a dog that barks a lot but not really much bite'' humm kinda like what a liberal fa ggot would lug around..a chihuhahua