Freedom Rider: Hugo Chavez and the Obama/Clinton Twins
by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
If
the next president is a Democrat, there will be no change in
direction from Bush regime foreign policy. Violations of
international law will continue. Outright lies will be told to the
international community and to the media, and the damage done by the
Bush regime will not be undone.
Hillary
Clinton and Barack Obama have confirmed it. They are both on record
in support of Bush administration policy that encouraged one South
American country to attack another. They are on record in support of
an assassination plot that brought three nations to the brink of war.
Recent
news media headlines, “Venezuela masses troops on Colombian border”
would lead one to believe that the crisis involving Colombia,
Venezuela and Ecuador was the result of wrong doing on the part of
Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez. The media rarely reveal that the
president of Colombia, Alvaro Uribe, violated international law by
first bombing and then sending troops into neighboring Ecuador on
March 1st.
“Clinton and Obama are on record in support of
an assassination plot that brought three nations to the brink of
war.”
FARC,
a Spanish acronym for Revolutionary Armed Forces for Colombia, is a
guerrilla movement that has been engaged in battle against the
Colombian government since the 1960s. Raul Reyes was the FARC
international spokesman in the midst of negotiations
for a prisoner exchange and release of hostages held by FARC and
Colombia. Those negotiations took place with the full knowledge of
the Colombian government and were close to being successfully
concluded.
Hugo
Chavez was at the center of the negotiations and worked with France,
Spain, Switzerland and the International Red Cross on the prisoner
release. The previous week four Colombians had been released by FARC
and were given a grand welcome in Caracas, Venezuela. Reyes was too
successful, and Uribe and Bush decided that he had to go.
With
the help of the American military, Reyes’ satellite phone calls to
Hugo Chavez were tracked and his location was pinpointed. On March
1st,
Raul Reyes and 17 other FARC members were killed as they slept, first
in a bombing attack and then execution style by Colombian troops.
After the attack, the Colombian military took Reyes’ body and
displayed it for the international media, a violation of the Geneva
Conventions and of any standard of ethics.
Three
envoys sent by French president Nicolas Sarkozy were scheduled to
meet with Reyes on the day
he was killed.
Two days before the killings, Sarkozy said he was prepared to go to
Colombia to free one of the hostages personally, French-Colombian
politician Ingrid Betancourt. His so-called American friends put him
in his place and let him know he would not be allowed into Uncle
Sam’s back yard without permission. If Sarkozy thought he was a
Bush friend, he may want to rethink that assessment.
“Raul Reyes and 17 other FARC members were
killed as they slept, first in a bombing attack and then execution
style by Colombian troops on Ecuadoran soil.”
While
the Bush administration was fanning flames in South America and
insulting allies, Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama jumped on the
imperialist bandwagon. Neither of them criticized a government
sponsored assassination, the violation of a nation’s sovereignty,
or the sabotage of a humanitarian effort. Both parroted Bush
administration lies about Hugo Chavez.
Hillary
Clinton read straight from Bush talking points. “Rather than
criticizing Colombia's actions in combating terrorist groups in the
border regions, Venezuela and Ecuador should work with their neighbor
to ensure that their territories no longer serve as safe havens for
terrorist groups. After reviewing this situation, I am hopeful that
the government of Ecuador will determine that its interests lie in
closer cooperation with Colombia on this issue. Hugo Chavez must call
a halt to this provocative action. As President, I will work with our
partners in the region and the OAS to support democracy, promote an
end to conflict, and to press Chavez to change course.”
“Neither Clinton nor Obama criticized a
government sponsored assassination, the violation of a nation’s
sovereignty, or the sabotage of a humanitarian effort.”
According
to Hillary, Ecuador should just shut up and allow Colombia to kill
within its borders. Only Chavez’s actions in defense of his nation
are deemed provocative by the woman who says she alone can be trusted
during international emergencies. In addition, she didn’t reveal
that Raul Reyes was the FARC contact for officials in her husband’s
administration. If she truly reviewed the situation and came up with
this statement, her claims to be the best commander-in-chief are
laughable at best.
The
Obama statement is equally
disturbing.
"The
Colombian people have suffered for more than four decades at the
hands of a brutal terrorist insurgency, and the Colombian government
has every right to defend itself against the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia (FARC). The recent targeted killing of a senior
FARC leader must not be used as a pretense to ratchet up tensions or
to threaten the stability of the region. The presidents of Colombia,
Ecuador and Venezuela have a responsibility to ensure that events not
spiral out of control, and to peacefully address any disputes through
active diplomacy with the help of international actors."
It
is true that FARC has been fighting the Colombian government for four
decades, but that is not the whole story. After a cease fire in 1984,
FARC formed a political party and won seats in Colombia’s
parliament. After participating in the democratic process, more than
4,000
FARC members and other activists were assassinated in 1985.
FARC rationally concluded that coming above ground was not a
prescription for change in their country. (*link alternet)
“Hillary Clinton read straight from Bush talking
points. Obama gave Colombia the right to invade a
neighboring as long as they claim to fight terrorism.”
Not
only is his historical knowledge wanting, but Obama’s blithe
acknowledgement of a “targeted killing” is disgraceful. So too is
his assertion that it really isn’t that big a deal, and the wronged
nation, Ecuador, should just try to get along with the provocateurs.
He too gives Colombia the right to invade a neighboring country in
clear violation of international law as long as they claim to fight
terrorism. As for “international actors,” they were working to
insure peace in the region before they were given a very public smack
down by the United States.
The
Obama/Clinton statements about the South American crisis are pretty
much like their statements on every other foreign policy issue. They
differ very little from one another or from the Bush administration.
If they don’t speak out now against an unpopular lame duck, why
should they work to undo his policies? The sad truth is that they
neither one of them will. Bush style diplomacy will still win the day
in the November elections. Fortunately Hugo Chavez will also be in
office. There will be at least one leader willing to speak truth to
American power.