Fresh from Sources as Diverse as El Nacional and VTV, the war of words between Colombia and Venezuela has heated up.
NarcoPresident Alvaro Uribe has been warned: Apologize for the violation of Venezuelan sovereignty, or face a closure of commercial ties. To back up this claim, Venezuela has put on hold the commercial accords between the narcorepublic to the west, and Uribe claims that Venezuela is making a grave error.
All of this furor revolves around the Colombian Narcostate´s erroneous assumption that the kidnappings considered commonplace and a way of doing good business within its own borders are acceptable in other sovereign nations. Not so in the Bolivarian republic. In an act of secuestro reminiscent of the Mossad (not surprising considering Israel´s nefarious role in the Andes), Rodrigo Granda was kidnapped from within Venezuelan sovereign territory by Venezulan Army men paid for by the Narcoadministration, and spirited to a hidden location in the Narcozone to await trial. According to the local press, Granda is the "chancellor" of the FARC, and he provides verbage regarding the history and goals of Colombia's largest Guerrilla organization.
This seems a surprising act by a nation that refused to extradite a paramilitary chief claiming that there were no extradition treaties with the United States. With closer examination, however, we see that this was no extradition, merely a pesca milagrosa in the best traditions of a goverment founded on paramilitarismo.
As I warned back in August, the dance with the devil is a tricky one at best, and it's very easy to get burned. President (Yes, President, not "Mr." or "leftist firebrand") Chavez risked much by signing oil and gas accords with the Narcostate. This is a difficult time to take a stand against Uribe's impunity, and I commend the decision of the Venezuelan republic to not take this sitting down. At this time, Uribe is refusing to take responsibility for the act of violating Venezuela's sovereignty by paying for a mercenary kidnapping.
-Caracas, Venezuela
