This weekend tensions escalated between Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez, Ecuador, and Colombia after Colombian special forces killed a leader of the terrorist communist group FARC. FARC has been involved in a guerrilla war with the government of Colombia since the 1960s. FARC like the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan using national boundaries to protect themselves against government troops. Former members of the group admitted to crossing national boundaries for safety and the government of Colombia has long complained to the government of Ecuador that the terrorist were using Ecuador as a safe haven.

Hugo Chavez has also played a part in dealings with FARC but he has tried to appear as a moderator between FARC and Colombia. However there are two things about Chavez that are abundantly clear. First he is spoiling for a fight. Chavez is spending billions of dollars of oil revenue to upgrade and enlarge the Venezuelan army and he is constantly talking of war and makes threatening statements to his neighbors mostly the U.S. Second is that Chavez is a communist. He makes no apology for his admiration of the old Soviet regime and his good friend Fidel Castro. So is it really far fetched to believe that he is supporting FARC? No, his reaction to the death of a major member of FARC speaks for itself. Chavez is angry because he wants to help FARC rule Colombia, and this attack is a major blow to the group.

So if this indeed comes to war, it will be because of the mad with power decisions of Hugo Chavez.

- Thomas Paine 2

Technorati Tags: communism, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela