The body of FARC commander Raul Reyes: Killed in a Colombian attack

on Ecuadorian territory, his death now threatens to spark a regional conflict.

Tal Cual, Venezuela

'North American Empire'

Seeks to 'Internationalize'

Conflict with Colombia …

"The United States is mounting a campaign against our country, our President and our institutions. The campaign that has now been launched against Correa [the President of Ecuador] is a campaign of empire."

Translated by Miguel Guttierez

March 3, 2008

Venezuela - Tal Cual - Original Article (Spanish)

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said that Plan Colombia, the program to battle drug trafficking that is financially and logistically backed by the United States, has turned Colombia into a platform for aggression and war on our Continent.

"Colombia has become the launching point for organized aggression, war and violence throughout the region ... A practical demonstration of this is what is going on in Ecuador," said the Minister, referring to the three-way conflict between against Colombia by Ecuador and Venezuela, which was sparked when Colombian troops killed the FARC's second in command, Raul Reyes, on Ecuadorian territory WATCH .

[Editor's Note: The FARC, shorthand for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army, is a left-wing guerilla group that now controls about 40 percent of Colombian territory [see map on right]. Funded largely through drug-trafficking, the group is the central target of U.S. sponsored Plan Colombia, a package of military and non-military aid that has cost about $3 billion over the past five years ].

Maduro said that the operation undertaken by the "North American empire" and the Colombian bourgeoisie seeks the "internationalization of the conflict." The minister went in to say that it was this incident that resulted in the mobilization of Ecuadorian and Venezuelan troops toward the border with Colombia. In addition, Ecuador expelled Colombia's ambassador to Quito and Venezuela ordered the closure of its embassy in Bogota, although it has yet to be decided what will the eleven Venezuelan consulates in Colombia will do.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

The chancellor said that the United States, "is mounting a campaign against our country, our President and our institutions. The campaign that has now been launched against Correa [President of Ecuador] is a campaign of empire," and seeks to convert, "the policy of quote, 'terrorism,' unquote, into a justification for launching attacks in various parts of the world, and to maintain gross and obscene budgets of war.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

On January 27, at a meeting with his Colombian counterpart Fernando Araujo, the foreign minister transmitted information that indicated, "There are groups of anti-Venezuelan adventurers who could be behind a military provocation against Venezuela and against peace "

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[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US March 3, 10:20pm]