This site covers almost identical stuff… That’s strange……

Intriguing idea, but I don’t know if I believe you one hundred percent….

July 27 2008 (LPAC)–In the wake of its audacious July 2 liberation of 15 high-profile hostages held by the narcoterrorist FARC, the Colombian government is organizing an anti-drug summit for next week, to which 23 nations have been invited, Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez announced on July 24.

The July 30-August 1 summit on “Illegal Drugs, Security and Cooperation in the Caribbean, Central America, Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela,” will be hosted by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The Presidents of Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador and Panama have already confirmed their attendance, as has the Vice Foreign Minister of Cuba. Other Heads of State, Foreign Ministers, Attorneys General, etc., are expected to join them.

The spirit of the Colombian diplomatic offensive is captured by the warning the Colombian Ambassador delivered at the Organization of American States on July 24 to Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, the only Head of State in the region still defending the FARC: “Help us bury the FARC’s corpse; don’t bury yourself with it.”

A momentous shift back towards securing peace and development throughout the region has followed Colombia’s July 2 success, the most dramatic of a series of blows delivered to the FARC top leadership over the past year. The July 2 action–which included significant institutional support from both the United States and France, demonstrates that the FARC, the world’s largest cocaine cartel, openly backed by the City of London and Wall Street, can be defeated.

The combination of that FARC defeat, and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s announcement three days later that Colombia welcomed Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez’s offer for their two nations to build a regional railway, catalyzed significant further motion towards dumping the British free trade system regionwide. In effect, the informal South American Presidents’ Club has swung back into action, despite the fact that the Kirchners in Argentina–previously the sparkplug of regional integration efforts–have been put in check for the past few months by the
destabilization operation in that country.

* On July 11, Chavez and Uribe, with maps in hand, discussed the great potential of their countries cooperating on developing railroads, waterways and food.

* On July 18, Brazilian President Lula da Silva, Venezuela’s Chavez and Bolivia’s Evo Morales announced investments to construct the Bolivian highway portion of a bi-oceanic corridor, connecting Brazilian ports on the Atlantic with Chilean and Peruvian ports on the Pacific, going through Bolivia.

* On July 19, Lula da Silva and Uribe announced agreements for Brazil and Colombia to cooperate on rail, food, and joint industrial projects, and that Colombia had agreed to join the South American Defense Council being organized by Brazil.

* On July 20, Peru’s President Alan Garcia joined Lula and Uribe in celebrating Colombia’s Independence Day, and signing a tri-state agreement to cooperate against the drug trade.

See below:

http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-06-10-ohio-lethal-injection_N.htm

Hmmm, you were in Colombia a while ago, weren’t you Larry?

CNN is likely not complicit- they just get the news from the same places as everyone else- those news wires. I doubt there was CNN reporter there.

I only know FARC from mainstream media too. My school did not teach FARC as my Marxist prof said their model was so outside the other models in Central and South America.

There is no doubt this will be a boost for Uribe and will help his standing within Colombia after the screw-ups in crossing into other countries (Ecuador and Venezuela) earlier. I’m thrilled for this success, but I would not go for the adulation of “strong …leader”. He has faced recent protests within his own country and has NOT been well-viewed in other Latin American countries.

BTW, Venezuela’s economy has been hard-hit by inflation, not a surprise (though definitely unpleasant) for any oil economy and not different from periods the U.S.A. has gone through. Take a hard look at the current state of the U.S. economy before taking a deprecatory view of those of other countries. ALL of the Latin American countries will have difficulties as a result of being tied to the U.S. dollar.

FYI, Chávez’s current approval rating is 73.9%. I won’t get into the Plan Colombia debate.

Then there are the politicians who make govt work look like a dirty job and dishonor those same people.