With Only A Left Wing It's Easy To Go Hysterical

Hugo Chavez, the 21st Century's equivalent of Fidel Castro, is pumping his reputation as the Joe Biden of the Andes. His latest case of rhetorical dyspepsia alleges that the US is secretly building an invasion force in Columbia and will soon cross into the Motherland of the Bolivarian Revolution.

Hugo's junior partner in the Neo-Castroite Renewal, Rafael Correa, jefe grande of Ecuador, echoes the his patron's anxieties but in a more sotto voce manner. The Hero of Los Indios must be feeling disappointed that the hated and dreaded Yankees have not gone home after he rejected renewal of the American lease on an Ecuadorian base for counter-narcotics surveillance flights.

Now Hugo loves to bloviate. He loves to excoriate. He loves to bluster and threaten. That is probably why he likes dealing with Iran. Those folks are just like him at heart.

No doubt Hugo particularly loves to play the victim role in a self-created, self-written drama featuring the US as Chief Villain and Columbia as the Villain's Assistant. That is why the finding of elderly Swedish anti-armor rockets in the hands of FARC was simply one more base plot created by the imperialists without a shred of truth.

While these aging AT-4 ATGMs are scarcely "sophisticated," they would have been of some assistance to the FARC guerrillas and drug traffickers. There is no arguing that the missiles did come from Venezuela. The Swedes have confirmed the devices were sold to that country. But, no one, not even Uncle Sam and the Colombian government are saying that Hugo was in on the deal. There is simply too much shrinkage from the military arsenals in Venezuela to be sure of that.

On the other hand there is simply too much evidence that both Chavez and Correa would be thrilled by a FARC success in "reactionary" Colombia. And, that both have worked assiduously to bring that thrill into reality.

While Colombia has a real, documentable reason to be peeved with both of these hard left leaning leaders, Bogota has been remarkably calm in the face of repeated provocation. Not so with Sr Chavez and Sr Correa.

Chavez has "frozen" relations with Colombia one more time. As a result the Colombian peso fell nearly two percent since the country's (legal) trade depends much on Venezuela, its second largest trading partner.

Not content with that, Chavez has raised the noise level with his expressed fears that the Marines, or at least the New Mexican National Guard was coming--soon. Hugo needs to take a Xanax or two, perhaps review his collection of Condy Rice photos. He needs to get a grip.

The US is in the process of negotiating with Colombia for the use of three air bases for use in surveillance flights targeted on countering drugs and insurgency within Colombia. This is not out of line considering our six billion dollar investment between 2001 and 2008 in assisting Colombia fight the drug runners and their insurgent sidekicks within the country. If the fourteen hundred or so military and civilian DoD personnel in Colombia constitute an invasion force, then El Presidente Chavez ought to reconsider his country's defense capacities.

Anyway it is not a done deal. There are elements in the Colombian Senate which want to use the proposal as a lever to get a free trade treaty out of the US. To date the Progressive Caucus has opposed this averring human rights abuses on the part of the Colombian security forces, an accusation which is far from baseless. Or there may be other deal sweeteners being considered by these Colombian politicos.

(Recall that Colombia has a long history of wanting more to go through with a seemingly done deal. That is why Theodore Roosevelt created a country, Panama, in order to get his canal dug over the obdurate attitude of a handful of Colombian senators.)

Sr Chavez and Sr Correa need to stop blustering, quit the victim game. Both have been consolidating one-man-rule states. Both are facing very real internal problems. Both have large segments of their population which are not supportive of the "Bolivarian Revolution." Both are ineptly presiding over economic degradation, political repression, and social dislocation.

All of the diversions, from Honduras to the new Colombian fracas, do not alter the basic reality one little bit. The "Bolivarian Revolution" in common with all too many leftist experiments, including the one in progress in the US, leads down a rough and rutted road. Shouting, "victim!" will not keep the wheels on when the ruts get too deep and the bumps too rough.

And, that's a fact, Jack.