When the infamous Alfonso Cano, leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), was killed recently during an assault by government forces, the longstanding guerilla group faced a pivotal moment: It could have fractured under the lack of leadership, or it could have continued with its violent mission. It chose the latter. Despite Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos’s words of warning, “I want to tell the FARC, this is the time for them to demobilize, this is the time for them to lay down their arms.… The alternative, as …
The armed forces of Colombia have scored a major battlefield victory. They finally hunted down, confronted, and killed the leader of the narco-terrorist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Guillermo Leon Saenz, widely known by his alias Alfonso Cano. A guerrilla for decades, Cano assumed the top leadership of the FARC following the natural death of founder Manuel Marulanda (2008) and the elimination of senior figures Raul Reyes (2008) and Jorge Briceno (aka Mono Jojoy, 2010). Seen by some as a modern-day version of the “good revolutionary,” Cano—a life-long advocate …
Where does the Venezuelan leader who called President George W. Bush the incarnation of the devil, said he would not be surprised to discover that capitalism and imperialism extinguished life on Mars, and likes comparing Libya’s tyrant Colonel Muammar Qadhafi to the great South American Liberator Simon Bolivar, go to broadcast his message? Hugo Chavez turns first to his trusted echo chamber and official media outlet TELESUR. TELESUR is the creation of Chavez and company. It has been in business since 2005 and follows in the footsteps of other state-controlled …
Hugo Chávez took another bold step in his campaign to consolidate authoritarian control over the Venezuelan people when he promoted Gen. Henry Rangel Silva to the rank of General-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Silva is in the limelight because in an interview this week regarding the military and the 2012 presidential elections, Silva declared: The hypothesis of an elected [opposition] government is hard to swallow, it would mean selling the country, and that is not going to be accepted, not by the armed forces and much less by the people. …
Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez recently returned from October encounters with some of the least savory actors on the international stage. His trip focused on cementing a new nexus or alignment in world affairs, some cleverly dubbed VIRUS. It is not a computer malfunction or a contagion but rather a shadowy network of cooperation linking Venezuela, Iran, Russia, and Syria. A core element of VIRUS is developing nuclear capacity and acquiring nuclear weaponry, the ultimo ratio of international power politics. Chávez did exactly that when he purchased a nuclear reactor in Moscow, …
The radical left in Latin America often prides itself in its ability to stir up the masses and make nations ungovernable by elected officials and representative governments, especially centrist or conservative regimes. But when popular unrest or insubordination, threatens a Leftist leader, the Left cries “coup” and “conspiracy.” The current situation in Ecuador following clashes between the government of Rafael Correa and striking police officials is unclear. Political instability is nothing new to Ecuador. It has had eight presidents in the last 13 years. Since his election in 2006, Correa …
While Colombia’s new president Manuel Santos was at the United Nations today, he received welcomed news: Colombia’s military had located and attacked a camp belonging to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Killed in the assault was Jorge Briceno (born Victor Julio Suarez, AKA El Mono Jojoy) second highest FARC commander, military mastermind, and emblematic hard-line leader. Santos called it a “historic moment.” As chief of the Eastern Bloc, Briceno commanded the largest single body of FARC fighters. He was also an architect of the terrorist strategy of kidnapping …
It’s good to know who your friends are. In the case of “Merchant of Death” Viktor Bout, it looks like Thailand knows. It also looks like the Obama Administration’s careful treading during Thailand’s ongoing political crisis has yielded some benefit. On Friday, a Thai appeals court ordered Viktor Bout, the notorious international arms dealer responsible for fueling wars from Africa to Afghanistan, extradited to the U.S. to face terrorism charges. Bout’s arrest was made possible by a joint Thai-U.S. sting operation in 2008 that caught him agreeing to a massive …
Venezuela’s authoritarian populist president, Hugo Chavez, is threatening to cut off oil sales to the U.S. The latest dispute follows Colombia’s presentation of evidence regarding the presence of an estimated 1,500 FARC fighters on Venezuelan soil with the complicit support of Chávez and his government. Thundered Chavez: If there was any armed aggression against Venezuela from Colombian territory or from anywhere else, promoted by the Yankee empire, we would suspend oil shipments to the U.S. even if we have to eat stones here!
On July 22, Colombia’s Ambassador to the Organization of American States (OAS) presented evidence of what is clearly a credible report on the presence of camps of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) inside Venezuela. By official U.S. designation FARC is a terrorist organization, one of three operating in Colombia. The OAS summary tells the story best: The Colombian Ambassador presented “a series of photographs, maps, coordinates, and videos that, according to his government, represent proof of the presence of illegal armed groups in Venezuelan territory. [Note: The OAS …
