DIFFERENT ANGLE by Kenneth Rijock
Several reputable sources are reporting that the government of Venezuela has paid the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known as the FARC, the sum of $500m, ostensibly to secure the release of three hostages held by that designatied terrorist organisation. The FARC, organised in 1964 as the military arm of the Colombian Communist Party, currently is illegally holding approximately seven hundred individuals captive, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, three American defence contractors, and many Colombian military and police officers, under inhumane concentration camp conditions. It has also kidnapped approximately two hundred Venezuelans, as an important part of its terrorist fund-raising activities. The circus surrounding the Colombian prisoner release, which involves both Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias and former Argentinian President Nestor Kirschner, appears to be intended to distract the public in both countries from the Antonini money laundering scandal, which has become the Watergate of Latin America.
- Politics aside, the payment of an obscene amount of money to a global terrorist organisation designated by OFAC could result in the entire Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, and its leadership, being subject to major American sanctions. Could this act result in an American decision holding that Venezuela has become a state sponsor of terrorism? It could happen. And what would this do to the ability of Venezuelan financial institutions to continue to have access to the US banking structure? they will become the next vicitims. It will also, quite simply, destroy it, for without access to the world's largest market, and the much needed US-grown food, Venezuela's economy, already in trouble, will crash and burn.
- Remember, the FARC has never been known to return hostages with a charge. It currently has demanded that Colombian President Uribe, and his entire cabinet, resign as a condition precedent to a purported major release of hostages. (The FARC has attempted to assasinate Uribe over 100 times, without success.) So why is the Venezuelan press silent about how much money the FARC received this month from Venezuela? Perhaps it is because most of it is government-controlled or -influenced.
- Over in Colombia, these funds will allow the FARC to not only to greatly expand its military capability, but will give it sufficient financial power to directly challenge the Colombian Ejercito, its army. It will also give it the funds it needs to purchase precursor chemicals for cocaine production on a grand scale, which would mean that Europe and Asia may will later be seeing a massive increase inthe amount of drugs available on city streets on those regions.
- If the FARC ultimately gains control of Colombia, you can anticipate a bloodbath, with the upper-class landed gentry as the first targets, such as occurred in Russia when the Soviets took over. After all, the FARC are avowed Marxists. Does anybody remember what happened in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge came to power?
- All of this nightmare could come to pass, thanks to this ultimate act of terrorist financing, masquerading as a humanitarian venture .The fact is, the FARC will never release any of the prominent hostages. They are hardcore terrorists, intent on destroying democracy in Colombia, by any means available. All this does is distract the world press, and the people of Latin America, from the ugly ramifications of the Antonini scandal.
Will Venezuela be hereafter judged by the world as simply another Cuba or Iran, and suffer the financial and cultural ostracism that those state supporters of terrorism must endure? Only time will tell. I know that, if I was a banker at an international financial institution whose clients trade with Venezuela, I would be conducting a new country risk assessment this week, brief my compliance staff accordingly and reduce my bank's exposure forthwith.
Most troubling, for a geopolitical viewpoint, is the use of a map, by President Chavez at an international press conference, showing both Venezuela and Colombia as one country. Is armed conflict on the horizon ?
The facts and opinions stated in this article are those of the author and not those of World-Check. World-Check does not warrant the accuracy of any facts and opinions stated in this article, does not endorse them, and accepts no responsibility for them.
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