Whats driving the conflicts along Colombias borders with Venezuela and Ecuador?
As far as Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez and Chavez go, each leader has his own domestic demons to battle. Uribe has a personal vendetta against Colombia’s Marxist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the group by whom his father was killed in 1983 during a kidnapping attempt. In order to conquer the insurgent group and save face, Uribe allows Washington to maintain a short leash on his political agenda, and in return he receives billions of dollars through an ever-failing Plan Colombia. Chavez, on the other hand, finally assumed the presidency six years after his failed coup attempt of 1992. A nation ravaged by poverty and economic inequality with an entrenched oligarchy that was too subservient to Washington’s demands were the catalysts that brought Chavez to action against the Venezuelan government. His Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement captured the support of a majority of impoverished citizens who elected to him to office with a 57-40% victor
