Fright Week Concludes in
Colombia
Colombians are closing a
week full of fear
because of the
diplomatic crisis that
tenses relations with
Venezuela in the wake of
verbal confrontations
between Presidents Hugo
Chavez and Alvaro Uribe.
The origin of the
confrontation, which
reached its climax last
Sunday, was the abrupt
cancellation in November
21, without a prior
consultation by Bogota,
of the mediation led by
Chavez and Colombian
Senator Piedad Cordoba,
who were looking for a
humanitarian exchange of
prisoners with the
guerrillas.
As a result, Chavez put
relations with Colombia
"in the fridge" due to a
lack of confidence in
Uribe and his
Government, and said
that Colombia deserved a
better president.
Uribe also replied in
very strong terms,
accusing his Venezuelan
peer of "coming to
Colombia to interfere
and promote an
expansionist project" on
the continent.
The rest of the week
went by amid a campaign
by the mainstream
Colombian media, which
seems to be striving to
arouse passions, in
contrast with
conciliatory calls by
numerous politicians and
business people to find
a way to mend matters
and improve relations.
The media campaign
failed to conceal the
clamor by broad sectors
which favor a resumption
of efforts to achieve
the humanitarian accord
between the government
and the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia
(FARC), which many
considered going in the
right direction.
This perception was
confirmed on Friday,
when evidence that 17
people, including ex
presidential candidate
Ingrid Betancourt, a
senator and three US
intelligence agents,
were still alive was
provided by FARC, as
promised to the
Venezuelan leader.
However, the evidence
did not reach Senator
Cordoba and much less
Chavez because it was
intercepted by the
Government through a
military operation in
Bogota, with three
alleged members of FARC
detained.
This has deepened the
conviction in many
Colombians that,
contrary to what has
been reiterated by the
government, the thwarted
mediation was indeed
working.
It also generates more
questions on the real
interest of President
Uribe to find to release
people held by the
guerrillas, giving
priority to dialogue
rather than to armed
conflict. |
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