Category Archives: Southern theater

F.A.R.C. Has 50 Kilos of Uranium!?!

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I missed this part of the Columbia story yesterday. From CNN:

And evidence found in the raid suggests that Chavez recently gave the FARC $300 million, Colombia’s national police chief said Monday.

Speaking at a news conference, Gen. Oscar Naranjo said evidence in three seized computers also suggests FARC had given Chavez 100 million pesos when he was a jailed rebel leader.

Naranjo said other evidence in the computers suggests FARC purchased 50 kilograms of uranium this month.

Open borders seems like an even better idea now, doesn’t it? Ynet is reporting that F.A.R.C. wanted to make dirty bombs, perhaps for an offensive in Columbia. Or maybe to smuggle into Americaalong one of their drug routes.

Fausta, Gateway Pundit and The Real Cuba have great coverage. Babalu Blog is wondering if Cuban “advisers” will be heading for the Columbian border. The Devil’s Excrement has a great rundown and Caracas Chronicles has a great story of Venezuelan cab drivers blocking the routes need for Venezuelan military mobilization in protest over rising crime.

Lebanese Shia Cleric Claims USS Cole Off Coast “An Act of War”

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A senior Shia cleric (code word for Hezbollah mouthpiece) went on a saber rattling rant in this revolting propaganda piece from PressTV:

A senior Lebanese Shia cleric has said that the new US move to deploy a US warship off the Lebanese coast amounts to a declaration of war.

Seyyed Mohammed Hossein Fadlallah said, “The deployment of the USS Cole to the area is no less than a declaration of war and a new attempt to break the resistance and anti-American groups in the region.”

“Positions taken by some Lebanese elements in support of the US military moves along the Lebanese coast are deeply reprehensible,” he noted.

Commenting on recent Israeli atrocities in the Gaza Strip, the cleric said, “We are now observing that not only have Arabs ignored the Palestinian issue in general, but have remained deplorably indifferent to the massacre of innocent Palestinians by the Zionist regime that has been going on without interruption for more than half a century.”

Israeli atrocities. Like I said propaganda.

But it is an interesting coincidence that the Iranian backed Hezbollah would want to pick a fight with the U.S. just when Iranian ally Venezuela is poised to invade one of our allies. It’d be a boon to Venezuelan military action to have the U.S. completely tied up fighting not just in Iraq but in a new front in Lebanon while Chevez, F.A.R.C. and Ecuador carve up Columbia.

h/t Flopping Aces

War in the Americas: Venezuela, Ecuador Mass Troops on Columbian Border

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In response to Columbia killing a senior member of Marxist Narco-terrorist group F.A.R.C. in a commando raid Huge Chavez has massed armor and thousands of troops on the Columbian border. Ecuador has followed suit, massing troops on the opposite border threatening the long time U.S. ally with war on two fronts.

F.A.R.C., who murdered three American Indian rights activists in 1999, have long been suspected of having strong ties with the Venezuelan communist leader who supports them and gives F.A.R.C. shelter in his country. F.A.R.C. itself is believed to have between 9000-and 12,000 armed combatants and to earn between 250-300 million dollars a year through drug sales, extortion and kidnapping. It is also believed they use slave labor to cultivate the Coca and Poppy on their plantations:

The FARC finances its operations through kidnapping and ransom, extortion, and narcotics trafficking. It also targets anyone suspected of conspiring with the military and paramilitaries.

According to military analysts, the FARC earns between $250 and $300 million through criminal acts, of which 65 percent comes from the drug trade.

The FARC’s conventional “guerrilla” weapons include explosives, landmines and bombs camouflaged as necklaces, soccer balls, and soup cans.

They have also orchestrated prison revolts, attacked against police and military personnel and regularly set up roadblocks to “protect” villages from military or paramilitary infiltration. According to reports, the FARC forcibly enlists any persons between the ages of 13 and 60 to work coca or poppy plantations, and serve in the military. The FARC have also targeted religious leaders and banned any spiritual expression.

Ecuador was thought to be acting in support of their fellow communist nation until it was reported that Columbian commandos captured documents implicating Ecuador’s Rafael Correa in deals with the terror group:

A spokesman for Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said that during the raid, troops had found documents that provided information that “[Ecuadorean President Correa] has a relationship and commitments with Farc”,

Police commander Gen Oscar Naranjo said one document showed Reyes had met Ecuador’s minister of internal security and that they discussed Mr Correa’s “interest in making official relations with the Farc”.

The Reyes mentioned was F.A.R.C. spokesman and senior leader Raul Reyes, who was one of several terrorists killed in the attack.

Columbia now faces three armies, one on each side of them and one within their own land. Democrats have snubbed Columbia in recent years, making it clear that they favor the Marxist regimes over America’s freedom loving allies, and perhaps those actions have led Venezuela, Ecuador and F.A.R.C. to believe it Columbia is ripe for the picking.

Chavez has called Columbia the “Israel of South America” perhaps as a code to activate the Hezbollah cells he allows to operate in his country. Once active in the middle of a Marxist led war the Islamists will spread chaos and death well beyond the battle zone.

Columbia will likely get little if any assistance from America as the communists roll their tanks and troops across hard pressed nations borders. Once that war kicks off in earnest a destabilized Latin America and a porous souther U.S. border will likely spell disaster for the entire hemisphere.

Chavez Cuts Off Oil to Exxon!

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Angry that his illegal seizure of Exxon’s property was being properly adjudicated in the courts, Communist strongman Hugo Chavez has made good on his promise to cut off sales to Exxon if they continued to demand compensation for their stolen assets:

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuela’s state oil company said Tuesday that it has stopped selling crude to Exxon Mobil Corp. in response to the U.S. oil company’s drive to use the courts to seize billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets.

Exxon Mobil is locked in a dispute over the nationalization of its oil ventures in Venezuela that has led President Hugo Chavez to threaten to cut off all Venezuelan oil supplies to the United States. Venezuela is the United States’ fourth largest oil supplier.

Tuesday’s announcement by state-run Petroleos de Venezuela SA, or PDVSA, was limited to Exxon Mobil, which PDVSA accused of “judicial-economic harassment” for its efforts in U.S. and European courts.

PDVSA said it “has paralyzed sales of crude to Exxon Mobil” and suspended commercial relations with the Irving, Texas-based company.

“The legal actions carried out by the U.S. transnational are unnecessary … and hostile,” PDVSA said in the statement. It said it will honor any existing contracts it has with Exxon Mobil for joint investments abroad, but reserved the right to terminate them if permitted by the terms of the contracts.

It was unclear how much oil PDVSA supplies to Exxon Mobil, the world’s biggest publicly traded oil company. Both Chavez and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez previously said the company is no longer welcome to do business in Venezuela.

Venezuela’s decision leaves up in the air the situation of a refinery in Chalmette, La. — a joint venture supplied by Venezuelan oil in which PDVSA and Exxon Mobil are equal partners.

The real issue is that Exxon has been wining in the courts and the corrupt Communist regime is balking at paying a fair price for the equipment and material they “nationalized” at the point of a gun. European companies knuckled under right away, but Exxon took their case to several different courts which ruled against Chavez:

A British court issued an injunction last month temporarily freezing up to $12 billion of PDVSA’s assets. Exxon Mobil also has secured an “order of attachment” from U.S. District Court in Manhattan on about $300 million in cash held by PDVSA. A hearing to confirm the order is scheduled for Wednesday.

Other oil companies including Chevron Corp., France’s Total, Britain’s BP PLC and Norway’s StatoilHydro ASA have negotiated deals with Venezuela to continue as minority partners in the nationalized projects. ConocoPhillips and Exxon Mobil balked at the government’s tougher terms and have been in compensation talks with PDVSA.

Eager to spin this situation as America vs. Venezuela in a cold war style showdown, the regime has threatened to cut of all oil supplies to America:

Venezuela’s announcement came after Ramirez, the oil minister and PDVSA president, reiterated in a newspaper interview Tuesday that Venezuela is ready to cut off oil supplies to the United States if pressed into an “economic war.”

“If they want this conflict to escalate, it’s going to escalate. We have a way to make this conflict escalate,” Ramirez was quoted as saying.

The White House on Tuesday declined to comment on Venezuela’s threat. “When there’s a litigation that’s ongoing, different parties will say anything to try to win over on an argument,” said White House press secretary Dana Perino.

Meanwhile, Venezuelan state television has begun airing short anti-Exxon segments, with a message appearing on the screen in red text reading: “Exxon Mobil turns oil into blood.”

The move would cripple their own economy as we are one of their top buyers and they haven’t got the technology to refine their heavy crude. No doubt Chavez believes his allies in Iran and oil hungry China will come to his aid and provide him with new markets and refineries.

Get used to high oil prices, because America’s gone squishy and Chavez knows there’s nothing we’re going to do about his continued provocations.

Americans Targeted for Kidnapping By Mexican Crime Gangs

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Often when talking about crimes linked to illegal immigration, I think many people assume border security advocates claim that people magically become violent when their temporary visas expire. The fact is that Mexico and many Central and South American countries are broken, their governments cannot maintain control there.

We are seeing generations of Latin Americans growing up in areas that are essentially lawless. Part of controlling our borders is not allowing those that want to import their anarchy here entry, while at the same time reaching out to the good people from those countries fleeing the third world war zones who would be glad to assimilate into a law abiding society.

From Sign on San Diego:

Organized, well-financed and violent Mexican kidnapping cells are targeting a growing number of U.S. citizens visiting communities popular with San Diegans and other California residents.

Last year, at least 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, local FBI agents overseeing the cases said yesterday. In 2006, at least 11 county residents had been kidnapped in the three communities.

“Some of the 26 were recovered, some were hurt and some were killed,” said agent Alex Horan, who directs the FBI’s violent-crime squad in San Diego.

“It’s not a pleasant experience. Victims have reported beatings, torture and there have been rapes. . . . Handcuffs and hoods over the head are common,” he said.

[…]

The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana issued a travel advisory last week that said U.S. citizens living and traveling in Mexico should be extra vigilant.

Gunfights and other violence linked to drug cartels have increased in Baja California, and more Mexican citizens have been kidnapped lately.

While some of the groups suspected of kidnapping Americans are connected to drug trafficking, most aren’t, Horan said.

He described the kidnapping groups as sophisticated operations similar to terrorist cells, each with a boss and clear divisions of labor. Usually, one group is involved in scouting, another carries out the kidnapping, a third holds the victim and a fourth handles the ransom.

“They know who they’re going after. I think they have a list,” Horan said. “These are kidnapping cells. . . . That’s what they do. They do kidnappings all year long.”

We must always remember that many people fleeing Mexico or other Latin American countries are justified in their desire to reach our border, and our aim should be to create a system where the good people fleeing this sort of barbarity can enter while those who are part of the chaos are denied entry. Controlling the border is just the first step.

h/t Immigration Watchdog