The Something
13th September 2008, 12:32
By Juan Forero - WASHINGTON POST
Updated: 09/13/08 6:43 AM
BOGOTA, Colombia — The United States has accused three top aides to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of helping Colombian guerrillas traffic in cocaine and trying to topple the Colombian government, the first time the Bush administration has publicly outlined what it calls tight links between a terrorist group and the highest echelon of Venezuela’s leftist government.
The condemnation came Friday in the form of a designation by the Treasury Department that accused former Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin and two leading intelligence officials of helping the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia procure weapons and weaken Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s U. S.-backed government. The United States and Europe have blacklisted the FARC, as the rebel group is known, as a terrorist organization, and it is widely reviled in this country for carrying out mass kidnappings and assassinations.
“Today’s designation exposes two senior Venezuelan government officials and one former official who armed, abetted and funded the FARC, even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents,” Adam Szubin, director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement Friday.
Under the designation, any property the three Venezuelans own in the United States would be frozen and any American doing business with them could face criminal penalties.
But more significantly, the designation underscores how the Bush administration is prepared to escalate an ongoing conflict with Chavez, a populist who, critics say, has spent billions of dollars to help allies and radical leftist groups across Latin America. The American announcement came a day after Chavez ordered U. S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave the country in 72 hours in an act of solidarity with his close ally in Bolivia, President Evo Morales, who on Wednesday expelled the American ambassador in La Paz.
Both South American leaders, among a five-nation bloc including Cuba, Nicaragua and Ecuador that are opposed to many American policies, say that the Bush administration is trying to foment unrest, topple them from power and take over their countries’ natural resources.
The United States has in the past simply denied the accusations. This time, Washington upped the ante in a way that will surely lead Chavez to retaliate. On Thursday, Chavez had warned that his country could cut oil supplies to the United States — although American officials doubt Venezuela, dependent on oil sales, would do so.
I see this is escalating far more quickly than I had anticipated. More excuses for the U.S. to try another coup and call it "nessecary". Sad state of affairs we are in, truly sad.
Can't post links yet but here is the story. The wonder of copy and paste.
buffalonews.com/nationalworld/international/story/437840.html
Updated: 09/13/08 6:43 AM
BOGOTA, Colombia — The United States has accused three top aides to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of helping Colombian guerrillas traffic in cocaine and trying to topple the Colombian government, the first time the Bush administration has publicly outlined what it calls tight links between a terrorist group and the highest echelon of Venezuela’s leftist government.
The condemnation came Friday in the form of a designation by the Treasury Department that accused former Interior Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin and two leading intelligence officials of helping the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia procure weapons and weaken Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s U. S.-backed government. The United States and Europe have blacklisted the FARC, as the rebel group is known, as a terrorist organization, and it is widely reviled in this country for carrying out mass kidnappings and assassinations.
“Today’s designation exposes two senior Venezuelan government officials and one former official who armed, abetted and funded the FARC, even as it terrorized and kidnapped innocents,” Adam Szubin, director of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, said in a statement Friday.
Under the designation, any property the three Venezuelans own in the United States would be frozen and any American doing business with them could face criminal penalties.
But more significantly, the designation underscores how the Bush administration is prepared to escalate an ongoing conflict with Chavez, a populist who, critics say, has spent billions of dollars to help allies and radical leftist groups across Latin America. The American announcement came a day after Chavez ordered U. S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy to leave the country in 72 hours in an act of solidarity with his close ally in Bolivia, President Evo Morales, who on Wednesday expelled the American ambassador in La Paz.
Both South American leaders, among a five-nation bloc including Cuba, Nicaragua and Ecuador that are opposed to many American policies, say that the Bush administration is trying to foment unrest, topple them from power and take over their countries’ natural resources.
The United States has in the past simply denied the accusations. This time, Washington upped the ante in a way that will surely lead Chavez to retaliate. On Thursday, Chavez had warned that his country could cut oil supplies to the United States — although American officials doubt Venezuela, dependent on oil sales, would do so.
I see this is escalating far more quickly than I had anticipated. More excuses for the U.S. to try another coup and call it "nessecary". Sad state of affairs we are in, truly sad.
Can't post links yet but here is the story. The wonder of copy and paste.
buffalonews.com/nationalworld/international/story/437840.html