Redstate

Posted at 5:16pm on Mar. 2, 2008 Did You Miss Hugo Chavez?

By Pejman Yousefzadeh

Ever since the referendum offering Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez unlimited terms went down to defeat early this year, we have heard little from Latin America's favorite tinhorn dictator. Apparently fearing that we have forgotten all about him, Chavez has decided to burst back onto the international scene:

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez ordered tank battalions to the Colombian border and mobilized warplanes on Sunday after Colombian troops struck inside Ecuador in an attack on rebels.

He also ordered the shutting of Venezuela's embassy in Colombia and the withdrawal of all diplomatic staff in the dispute, warning Colombia's actions could spark a war in South America.

"Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the frontier with Colombia immediately, tank battalions," Chavez said on his weekly TV show. "The air force should mobilize. We do not want war."

Colombia's military said on Saturday troops had killed Raul Reyes, a leader of Marxist FARC rebels, during an attack on a jungle camp in Ecuador in a severe blow to Latin America's oldest guerrilla insurgency. The operation included air strikes and fighting with rebels across the frontier.

On Saturday, the anti-U.S. Chavez warned Colombia against doing the same in Venezuela because he would interpret it as a "cause for war." On Sunday, he said he would send Russian-made fighter jets into U.S. ally Colombia if its troops struck in Venezuela.

About the only good that can stem from all of this is that I can tell people "I told you so." It's always amusing to listen to Hugo Chavez denounce others for imperialism. No one in Latin America practices imperialist policies more fervently than he does.

Posted in Bolivarian Imperialism | Foreign Affairs | Hugo Chavez — Comments (34)/ Email this page » / Read More »