General Douglas Fraser, Chief of the United States’ Southern Command, confirmed yesterday that the Venezuelan government has no relation to the Basque separatist movement ETA nor the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Speaking to the US Senate, Fraser admitted that although the Southern Command has “continued to watch very closely for any connections between illicit and terrorist organization activity within the region” there is no evidence to link the Venezuela government with the armed rebel groups.

“We have not seen any connection specifically that I can verify that there has been a direct [Venezuelan] government-to-terrorist connection” Fraser said.

Accusations of a link between the armed groups and the Venezuelan government were made last week by a Spanish judge who accused the Chávez government of harboring terrorists.

via US Military Commander: Venezuelan Government has no Links to Terrorists | venezuelanalysis.com.

I wonder how long Fraser will keep his job? Not supposed to wreck the propaganda campaign against Chavez, you know. Heh.

Patrick Mac Manus has written about Venezuela, defending the government of President Chavez, and contesting the spin coming from the Colombian government as a result of the dodgy “Raul Reyes laptops.” Like many others, he considers the FARC to be a belligerent force that has been fighting a corrupt and murderous state for more than 40 years. It might be on the defensive after suffering some serious defeats, but it is still at war.

The Colombian government has declared itself at war with the FARC and ELN and seeks a military victory with the aid of the United States of America … NO amount of imprisonment or repression in Fortress Europe will change that fact.

Patrick Mac Manus is paying the price for rebellion against the anti-terror law.

via VHeadline.com – Danish Anti-terror law imprisons Irish writer for supporting FARC & VZLA.

Hugo Chavez, Venezuela

Geologists with the United States Geological Survey report a new estimate of how much oil is “technically recoverable” from the Venezuelan oil sands,

The Venezuelan oil sands are well known to need considerable financial investments if they are to become productive.

The New York Times reports a new assessment produced by the United States Geological Survey (USGS) indicates that there is more oil technically available than previously believed, in an area known as the Orinoco oil belt: 513 billion barrels of heavy oil.

Venezuela claims it has the world’s biggest oil reserves and the Orinoco belt is essential to support hat claim. Saudi Arabia has 264 billion barrels.

The main difference is the oil is Saudi Arabia is readily extracted, while the Orinoco’s oil sands are tougher to produce.

via Venezuela’s oil estimates doubled.

The “war”, declared unilaterally throughout the world by Richard Nixon in 1969, is expiring as its strategists start discarding plans that have proved futile over four decades: they are preparing to withdraw their agents from narcotics battlefields from Colombia to Afghanistan and beginning to coach them in the art of trumpeting victory and melting away into anonymous defeat. Not surprisingly, the new strategy is being gingerly aired in the media of the US establishment, from The Wall Street Journal to the Miami Herald.

Prospects in the new decade are thus opening up for vast amounts of useless government expenditure being reassigned to the treatment of addicts instead of their capture and imprisonment. And, no less important, the ever-expanding balloon of corruption that the “war” has brought to heads of government, armies and police forces wherever it has been waged may slowly start to deflate.

[...]

Evidence points to aircraft – familiarly known as “torture taxis” – used by the CIA to move captives seized in its kidnapping or “extraordinary rendition” operations through Gatwick and other airports in the EU being simultaneously used for drug distribution in the Western hemisphere. A Gulfstream II jet aircraft N9875A identified by the British Government and the European Parliament as being involved in this traffic crashed in Mexico in September 2008 while en route from Colombia to the US with a load of more than three tons of cocaine.

In 2004, another torture taxi crashed in a field in Nicaragua with a ton of cocaine aboard. It had been identified by Britain and the European Parliament’s temporary committee on the alleged use of European countries by the CIA for the transport and illegal detention of prisoners as a frequent visitor in 2004 and 2005 to British, Cypriot, Czech, German, Greek, Hungarian, Spanish and other European cities with its cargo of captives for secret imprisonment and torture in Iraq, Jordan and Azerbaijan.

via US waves white flag in disastrous ‘war on drugs’ – Americas, World – The Independent.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has announced plans for the deployment of new Russian-made tanks and combat helicopters on the border with Colombia.

Ties between Venezuela and Colombia deteriorated last August after Washington signed a deal with Bogota allowing U.S. forces to run anti-drug operations from Colombian bases. Chavez has criticized the deal and called for the Venezuelan people and army to prepare for a war.

via Venezuela to reinforce troops on Colombia border with Russian tanks | Top Russian news and analysis online | ‘RIA Novosti’ newswire.

After the U.S. invades Venezuelan airspace with impunity, and the leaked documents showing U.S. intentions with regard to the entire continent of South America, I can see why he’s doing this. (In regards to the latter, you can probably find the article about the leaked docs if you check through my tag archives.)

President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the U.S. of violating Venezuela’s airspace with an unmanned spy plane, and ordered his military to be on alert and shoot down any such aircraft in the future.

Speaking during his weekly television and radio program, Chavez said the aircraft overflew a Venezuelan military base in the western state of Zulia after taking off from neighboring Colombia. He did not elaborate, but suggested the plane was being used for espionage.

“These are the Yankees. They are entering Venezuela,” he said.

“I’ve ordered them to be shot down,” Chavez said of the aircraft. “We cannot permit this.”

Chavez has accused Colombia of allowing the United States to use its military bases to prepare a possible attack against Venezuela.

Both the U.S. and Colombia have denied such allegations in the past, saying the U.S. military presence is for the sole purpose of combating drug trafficking.

via The Associated Press: Chavez: US spy plane violated Venezuela’s airspace.

In an explicit attempt to hide Washington’s military objectives in South America, a US Air Force document submitted to Congress in May 2009 that provoked deep concerns in the region has been modified and re-published on November 16, 2009. The official US Air Force document, revealed and denounced by this author on November 4, explained the justification for a $46 million request to improve the military installations in one of the seven bases Washington will occupy under the military accord signed on October 30 between Colombia and the United States.

The modified document has eliminated all mention of war and military operations in the region, as well as offensive language directed at Colombia’s neighbors, Venezuela and Ecuador. Nevertheless, Washington’s intentions remain the same.

via VHeadline.com – Washington alters USAF document to hide intentions behind Colombia accord.

Links to the original and modified documents (.pdf) are available at the article above.