Chavez Itching for War with Columbia

Hugo Chavez needs a war... Domestically things aren't going well, and generally speaking he is an international clown in charge of a country that, without oil, would be totally irrelevant to anything. So how does a man with a giant ego wrapped in an inferiority complex satisfy his desperate urge for relevance? INVADE COLUMBIA!

For decades, the 'Revolutionary Armed Forces of Columbia' known as FARC have been waging a lonely and largely unsuccessful communist-terrorist insurgency to overthrow the legitimately elected government of Columbia. But lately, FARC have gained a new friend in Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, a self styled "socialist" leader who has begun to champion the FARC cause which is a blatant provocation towards Columbia. Last Week, Columbia was able to eliminate FARC's second in command, Raul Reyes, in a raid on an encampment near Columbia's border with Ecuador.For that, Chavez has ordered the deployment of tanks to Venezuela's border with Columbia and has made the following rather outlandish statements:

"Columbia has invaded Ecuador and flagrantly violated Ecuador's sovereignty."


"Columbia is a terrorist state"

“Mr defence minister, move me 10 battalions to the frontier with Colombia immediately, tank battalions. The air force should mobilise.”

“I am putting Venezuela on alert and we will support Ecuador in whatever circumstances.”

“We are not going to permit the North American empire that is the master and their dog, President Uribe, and the Colombian oligarchy to come and divide and weaken us. We are not going to permit it. I am rendering tribute to the good revolutionary who was Raul Reyes, I knew him personally.”

"Don't think about doing that over here, because it would be very serious, it would be cause for war... how far is President Uribe willing to go in his warlike madness?"

"wasn't any combat. It was a cowardly murder, all of it coldly calculated."

"This is something very serious. This could be the start of a war in South America....If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I'll send some Sukhois" -- Russian warplanes recently bought by Venezuela.

"The Colombian government has become the Israel of Latin America, we aren't going to permit Colombia to become the Israel of these lands. ... Uribe, we aren't going to permit you."

"Someday Colombia will be freed from the hand of the (U.S.) empire, we have to liberate Colombia."

Does anyone get the same feeling that I do, namely that Chavez is itching for a fight and that he is going to get what he is looking for? I also suspect that all of this will not end well for the blustering little dictator.