The Upside-Down World of Bush and Uribe: Slandering Chávez and the FARC

These statements represent a denial of reality that is extreme for even the Bush administration. After all, the origin of this crisis was Colombia’s military offensive into Ecuadorian territory. It was this blatant violation of national sovereignty that represents the “act of aggression that could destabilize the region.” And yet, Bush is painting the aggressor as the victim and a neighboring nation that has not violated the sovereignty of another country and seeks to defend itself against a similar attack as that endured by Ecuador as the provocateur. Bush is not alone in his politically-motivated assault on Chávez, the Uribe government in Colombia has also attacked the Venezuelan president and others with blatant lies and gross exaggerations.

On March 1, the Colombian military launched a cross-border air strike that killed Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) Commander Raúl Reyes and at least 16 other guerrillas while they were sleeping in their jungle camp located just over one mile inside Ecuador. US-supplied helicopters then transported Colombian troops across the border where they engaged in combat with the remaining guerrillas before retrieving Reyes’s body and the rebel commander’s laptop computers.

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