Colombia: Tensions and ‘Winds of War’ with Venezuela · Global Voices
Julián Ortega Martínez

Tensions have been escalating in the last few weeks between Colombia and Venezuela, two neighboring countries which already have strained relations. In mid-October, 8 Colombians were kidnapped and murdered execution-style after playing an amateur football match across the border in Venezuela. In addition, the bodies of 1 Peruvian and 1 Venezuelan were also found in the Western Venezuelan state of Táchira. No one has been found responsible for the killings so far, though the National Liberation Army guerrilla has been initially considered as a suspect.
However, Venezuelan authorities claim that the soccer players were paramilitaries, and these claims have added to the conflict between the countries. Besides the “incidents” already described above, Colombian intelligence officials or “spies” as the Venezuelan government refers to them, have been “captured” in Venezuelan territory, 8 “paramilitaries” were arrested in Táchira, two Venezuelan national guards were killed by gunmen on the border, and another was expelled [es] by the Colombian government. Colombia's intelligence agency even admitted that documents showed by Venezuelan Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami, seized from the “spies” captured in Maracay, were authentic [es].
Venezuela's government is upset for the agreement between United States and Colombia, which allows the former to use several military bases in the latter's territory, which has been presented as a “co-operation accord”. The pact was signed in early November, but it already has been the subject of an extraordinary UNASUR meeting past August to discuss the matter.
On November 8, Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez told the Venezuelan military, on his weekly program Aló, Presidente that “the best way to avoid war is by preparing for it”. (see the video on the Adam Isacson post linked at the end of this post). Around 15,000 troops have already been sent to the border by Chávez. Colombia, which planned to send 12,000 troops, took the case to the Organization of American States and the United Nations, but the letter sent by the Colombian government did not ask for actions against Caracas.
Meanwhile, President Chávez softened his rhetoric, claiming his words had been “manipulated.” In addition, its Public Works minister, who is also the president of the Communications Commission, announced it will sanction [es] the media which “manipulate” Chávez's words. However, a few days later, the Venezuelan president again raised his tone against the Colombian government, blaming the U.S. base pact for his country's tensions with its neighbor. Chávez insulted the Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva by calling him“mentally retarded”, the Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez as being “disgraceful”, after Mr, Bermúdez “regretted” UNASUR's silence over Chávez's words. He also called President Álvaro Uribe Vélez by calling him“mafioso” and a “traitor” for delivering “the motherland to the yankees” [es]. Brazil, Spain, and even the United States have offered to mediate.
In the blog Atrabilioso [es], Jaime Restrepo writes:
Si hay algo repetitivo en el accionar de la dictadura venezolana es el lanzamiento de cortinas de humo. Los venezolanos están tan acostumbrados, ya vencidos por la fuerza de la repetición del mecanismo, que terminan aceptando los torpes montajes que elaboran desde Miraflores, para desviar la atención nacional e internacional.
La última cortina de humo es una ignominia: para tratar de ocultar el secuestro y ajusticiamiento de nueve colombianos en Venezuela, el dictador y su ministro del interior han armado un alboroto sobre la captura de tres presuntos funcionarios del DAS, que estarían haciendo “inteligencia” para “desestabilizar” al progresista de Miraflores.
If there is something repetitive in the actions of the Venezuelan dictatorship, it is the launch of smokescreens. Venezuelan people are so used to them, so beaten by the force of the repetition of this strategy, that they end accepting the clumsy farces elaborated from Miraflores [residence of the Venezuelan president] in order to draw away domestic and international attention.
The latest smokescreen is an infamy: in order to hide the kidnapping and execution of 9 Colombians in Venezuela, the dictator and his Interior Minister have made a fuss about the capture of three alleged members of DAS [Colombia's intelligence agency], who would have been “spying” to “destabilize” the progressive [president] from Miraflores.
Restrepo also criticizes the passiveness of the Colombian government. In another piece [es] published on the blog Atrabilioso, Eduardo Mackenzie writes about “Anti-Colombian pogroms” in Chavez's Venezuela:
Ese hecho y la matanza de los diez muchachos pone al orden del día un nuevo fenómeno: hay un ambiente de pogrom anticolombiano en Venezuela. Pues no sólo alguien los está asesinando sino que ahora algunos están perdiendo sus propiedades y huyendo de Venezuela. Es lo que le ocurrió a la pereirana Sonia Restrepo quien el 15 de mayo de 2009 tuvo que abandonar su fábrica de telas estampadas y huir de Guarenas, cerca de Caracas. Unas 40 personas armadas irrumpieron en su casa en nombre de un “círculo bolivariano” y la acusaron de ser una “extranjera explotadora”. Sin que ninguna autoridad la protegiera, ella perdió así la empresa que había construido durante 30 años.
Valentina Díaz, from the blog Realidades Colombianas [es] , slams Chávez and, without mentioning him by name, praises Brazilian president Lula:
El hecho de que solo hasta hace unos días  Chávez  haya descubierto la existencia de las teorías de Marx, socialismo comunista, no lo hace una novedad. Fueron escritas en el Siglo 19 (sic). Si no fueron capaces de sostener la revolución bolchevique a sangre y fuego en Rusia, guerra tras guerra, menos lo lograran en América un alocado y despistado mandatario latino. Obsérvese como en el Brasil su gobierno está  introduciendo exitosamente lo “social”. Nadie evade a su gobernante, por el contrario, lo aplauden y le buscan para que contribuya a solucionar problemas de otros países. Es una persona que no se siente amenazado porque sabe que lo esta haciendo bien, nunca arremete ni inventa guerras con sus vecinos.  Se trata de un señor, un estadista, que juzga observando primero el respeto a la dignidad humana de los pueblos, las instituciones y personas. La diferencia es muy grande y por eso al contrario de Chávez en Colombia se le quiere y aprecia.
In a subsequent piece, Valentina outspokenly criticizes [es] Chávez's war rhetoric:
Si quiere estrenar las armas que les compró a negociantes de la muerte, que las estrenen pero no con sangre colombiana ni gente inocente venezolana. Si Bolívar viviera hoy, habría sacado a Chávez a patadas del palacio de Moraflores.
However, Salomon [es] thinks that the Venezuelan president's warmongering has a “goal”:
El llamado a la guerra de Hugo Chavez Frias, solo es una medida de distracción a su verdadero objetivo: Controlar a Colombia, para expandir la influencia ideológica de su revolución, y para conseguirlo, está dispuesto a lo que sea, incluso a llevar a la guerra  a dos pueblos hermanos.
Alejogalvis of Censurados: Cero [es] is “ashamed”  of the Venezuelan president:
Eso de cerrar frontera cada vez que se le viene en gana deja ver la ridícula posición de este tipo, que en vez de buscar una solución, lo que intenta es enemistar a dos pueblos que se han criado de la mano, antes de la era Uribe ó de la era Chávez. Pena es lo que debería darle a Chávez que amenaza con guerra cuando su país está en pleno racionamiento de agua, luz y quién sabe qué otra plaga falta por caerle a ese país.
Blanca Rolón claims [es] Chávez is, unintentionally, helping to increase Uribe's popularity in Colombia:
Even political cartoon blogs from opposite sides, such as pro-Uribe Mamertoons [es] and anti-government Uribestiario [es], echo these opinions against a war with Venezuela.
But Plan Colombia and Beyond‘s Adam Isacson does not believe a war is likely, despite Chávez's rhetoric:
1. Both countries’ postures are defensive. […] Both sides are preparing to defend themselves from an attack by the other side – but neither appears to be planning an actual attack. Terms like “pre-emption” are not being used. Though each may be daring the other to make the first move, neither side is playing offense.
2. There is no definition of “victory.” It is hard to imagine a war scenario that either side can define as successful. Would Venezuela take over a few Colombian border towns? Would Colombia drop bombs on the presidential palace in Caracas? If so, then what? The scenarios themselves hardly make sense.
3. Both populations lack “war fever.” In neither Colombia nor Venezuela do we see people taking to the streets to call for war. Neither nation’s newspapers have been publishing editorials or columns demanding blood and sacrifice. There aren’t even any significant Facebook groups calling for a Colombo-Venezuelan conflict. […]
4. Much of this is about domestic politics. Both countries happen to be in a make-or-break election season.
Even so, Miguel Bernal criticizes the media coverage of the issue [es]:
Qué pereza los periódicos caldeando los ánimos. Estoy jarto de titulares tipo “Chávez le echó la madre a no se quién”
Incidents continue along the border, whose inhabitants are afraid “that the current tensions could escalate into a conflict with Venezuela.” On Thursday, November 19, three people were murdered in Arauca, near the border with Venezuela, while two civilian bridges were blown up by Venezuelan guards in Táchira, as Colombia's People's Ombudsman and Defense Minister denounced the incident [es]. The Venezuelan government claims that these bridges [es] were “hallways for contraband,” used by drug traffickers, paramilitaries, and smugglers. Colombian Defense Minister told local radio that Venezuela uses “imaginative excuses” [es] to justify the destruction of the bridges.
Ricardo Ladino had his say over this last incident [es]:
Yo también espero que los puentes de diciembre sean legales, de lo contrario Chávez nos acaba el día de las velitas y la navidad.