Fred Fuentes calls community radio station 2NimFM with breaking news from Caracas. Troops are being mobilised to guard the borders with Columbia, in Venezuela and Ecuador after Columbia's incursion into Ecuador to 'take out' a FARC (Columbian rebel) guerilla leader. Tensions are high in both Ecuador and Venezuela. The Columbian government seems to be piqued that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has achieved something that the Columbian government couldn't bring itself to do for the last decade - achieved the release of high profile hostages by the Columbian FARC guerillas.The Columbian military intervened at a critical moment in last months hostage release in an apparent attempt to sabotage the efforts of Hugo Chavez, but without success. With the assistance of US satellite intelligence they located a temporary camp of a Columbian guerilla leader (who had committed himself to releasing more hostages shortly) a few kilometers inside Ecuador, strafed it with cluster bombs, and made an incursion into Ecuadorian territory to find the leader's body, and put it on display in the Columbian press. All done without consultation with the President of Ecuador.
Now both Ecuador and Venezuela have severed diplomatic relations with Columbia. Columbia has deployed troops to the Venezuelan border, and a further escalation will put all three countries on a war footing. Important regional meetings and conferences between South American presidents to decide economic and political issues have been cancelled or disrupted. Latin America is experiencing a political and social earthquake.
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