The Wall Street Journal reports today on the content of computer files closely tying Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez with FARC, a terrorist organization that makes its money running drugs to the United States and kidnapping people inside Colombia: “These documents indicate Venezuela appears to be making concrete offers to help arm the rebels, possibly with rocket-propelled grenades and ground-to-air missiles. The files suggest that Venezuela offered the FARC the use of one of its ports to receive arms shipments, and that Venezuela raised the prospect of drawing up a joint security plan with the FARC and sought basic training in guerrilla-warfare techniques.”
This is the same Hugo Chavez who has been praised repeatedly by Joe Kennedy in television commercials, and who Kennedy called his good friend. Such Hollywood left-wing luminaries as Kevin Spacey have paid visits to Mr. Chavez, giving the dictator even more credibility in the eyes of an unwitting public.
In related news, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi refuses to allow a vote on a free trade agreement with Colombia, a slap in the face of this struggling democracy. Pelosi cites concerns with labor and with the plight of unions in Colombia, but her refusal to send Colombia a lifeline works very nicely with the Chavez plan to arm the FARC rebels. It is almost as if it were a pincer movement meant to cut off democracy in a critically important area.
The Journal goes on to report, “The FARC, which has been fighting for control of Colombia for nearly a half-century, funds itself mostly through drug trafficking and kidnapping for ransom. The U.S. considers it to be one of the world’s main cocaine suppliers. The FARC is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S., Canada, Colombia and the European Union.”
The battle for Colombia is but one example of the complicated and dangerous world we live in. By improving a trade relationship with the Colombian people, we strengthen their legitimate economy, and reduce the power of drug lords that kill people not only in Colombia, but also in streets throughout America.
Speaker Pelosi doesn’t see it that way. She looks for excuses to stop a trade pact and her actions will undermine the security of a key ally, and in turn, hurt our own national security. Her actions, whether she knows it or not, help the cause of the drug-dealing, kidnapping terrorists known as FARC.
Hugo Chavez, of course, knows what he is doing. He is doing his best to support the rebels and undermine the Colombian democracy, because he sees democracy as a threat to his personal interests, because he wants a piece of the drug trade, and because he hates America.
House Democrats and Hugo Chavez are the two parts of a pincer movement that are squeezing Colombian democracy and undermining our national security.