[southnews] Whiff of war hangs over Gran Colombia
 
Date: Fri, 7 Mar 2008 00:36:04 -0600 (CST)


 The crisis gripping South America took a step closer to open conflict 
Wednesday, with Venezuela saying 10 battalions were now on the Colombian 
border, and Ecuador warning "ultimate consequences" could ensue. The 
developments increased pressure on frantic diplomatic efforts to resolve 
the dispute, which has raised the specter of OPEC members Venezuela and 
Ecuador, led by leftists, going to war against US ally Colombia.

Historically Gran Colombia (Spanish for Great Colombia) is a name used 
today for the Republic of Colombia of the period 1819-1831. This 
short-lived republic in South America encompassed the territories of 
present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, as well as smaller 
parts of Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil and Guyana. It was counted alongside 
Mexico and the US as one of the three leading powers during the 
liberation years of the Americas.

Whiff of war hangs over Colombia-Ecuador-Venezuela dispute

by Victor Flores Wed Mar 5, 12:24 PM ET

CARACAS (AFP) - The crisis gripping South America took a step closer to 
open conflict Wednesday, with Venezuela saying 10 battalions were now on 
the Colombian border, and Ecuador warning "ultimate consequences" could 
ensue.

The developments increased pressure on frantic diplomatic efforts to 
resolve the dispute, which has raised the specter of OPEC members 
Venezuela and Ecuador, led by leftists, going to war against US ally 
Colombia.

Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa, in Brazil to drum up regional support 
for his country, warned that Colombia must be condemned internationally 
for its cross-border strike against a Colombian rebel camp inside 
Ecuador on the weekend.

"Otherwise we will have to defend ourselves by our own means. I insist 
on this: Ecuador is ready to go to the ultimate consequences," he told 
reporters.

Venezuela, which has given full backing to Ecuador, confirmed that 10 of 
its army battalions -- around 6,000 men -- had been sent to the frontier 
and were 90 percent in place.

The mobilization was "not against the people of Colombia, but rather 
against the expansionist designs of the empire," Venezuelan Defense 
Minister Gustavo Rangel said, referring to the United States, which has 
thrown its weight behind its ally Colombia.

Military chiefs did not give details of the movements. It was not known 
the composition of infantry, tanks and other units.

A US defense department official, however, said there were credible 
reports Wednesday of mechanized elements moving out of a major 
Venezuelan military base in the city of Valencia, in the center of the 
country.

Another Pentagon official said the mobilization was not significant 
enough to raise concerns in Washington.

The trigger of the crisis was an air and land raid by Colombia inside 
Ecuador on Saturday to kill Raul Reyes, the number two leader of the 
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the Marxist guerrilla 
group it has been fighting for four decades.

Ecuador and Venezuela responded by ordering troops to their borders with 
Colombia and cutting off diplomatic ties.

US President George W. Bush hailed Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for 
going after the FARC and blamed the tensions on "provocative maneuvers" 
by Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Correa, who spoke with Brazilian President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, 
said the US backing of Colombia was unsurprising, and described Uribe as 
Washington's "unconditional puppet."

He said: "There has been an aggression. The aggressor has to apologize 
and the international community has to condemn it."

Correa said his country saw no negotiated solution because "there is 
nothing to negotiate."

"Nobody wants war," he said. "But we won't fool ourselves. The war was 
started by Colombia. We were bombed."

Brazil, along with Chile and Argentina, have already expressed 
indignation over Colombia's attack.

Correa, who was due in Caracas late Wednesday, said Lula had condemned 
"openly and directly" Colombia's raid during their one-hour meeting.

Colombia apologized to Ecuador for the raid, but said it was justified, 
and claimed it had recovered information from Reyes's computer showing 
Ecuador and Venezuela were abetting the rebels.

Colombian officials said Chavez gave 300 million dollars to FARC and 
that the guerrillas had tried to obtain 50 kilograms (110 pounds) of 
uranium in an apparent "dirty bomb" plot.

Quito and Caracas denied the allegations and expelled Colombia's 
ambassadors while ordering their troops to mobilize.

Venezuela has not closed its 2,000-kilometer (1,300-mile) border with 
Colombia, however, according to Rangel, who corrected previous 
information given by Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua.

Rangel said the troop mobilization was to "confront threats weighing on 
our country following the aggression on the territory of the Republic of 
Ecuador carried out by military forces from the Colombian state."

The Organization of American States was to continue Wednesday emergency 
talks that began Tuesday on the crisis, when Ecuador accused Colombia of 
a "planned and premeditated violation" of its sovereignty and called for 
an OAS commission to investigate.

Both Ecuador and Colombia also called for an urgent meeting of foreign 
ministers from the 34-nation body by March 11 to examine the row.
______________________________________________

Gran Colombia

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Gran Colombia (Spanish for Great Colombia) is a name used today for the 
Republic of Colombia of the period 1819-1831.

This short-lived republic in South America encompassed the territories 
of present-day Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador and Panama, as well as 
smaller parts of Costa Rica, Peru, Brazil and Guyana. It was counted 
alongside Mexico and the US as one of the three leading powers during 
the liberation years of the Americas. Its territory corresponded more or 
less to the jurisdiction of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

 Origin of the name

The official name at the time was the Republic of Colombia ( "Gran 
Colombia". Encyclopfdia Britannica. (6 June 2007). ), as it is today; 
historians have adopted the term "Gran Colombia" to distinguish the 
Republic before 1831 (with its more extensive land area) from that of 
the present-day Republic of Colombia.

The name "Colombia" comes from the name of Christopher Columbus 
(Cristsbal Colsn in Spanish, Cristoforo Colombo in Italian) and was 
conceived by the revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to 
the New World, especially to all American territories and colonies under 
Spanish and Portuguese rule.

Geography

The Republic of Gran Colombia comprised more or less the former 
territories of the Viceroyalty of New Granada.

History

Simsn Bolmvar, the Liberator of Spanish South America, and other 
revolutionaries in the First Venezuelan Republic occasionally used the 
term Colombia as a reference to all of Spanish America, until the 
proclamation of a republic under that name in 1819 at the Congress of 
Angostura.

It was initially conceived at that Congress as a Federal republic, made 
up of three departments with capitals in the cities of Bogota 
(Department of Cundinamarca), Caracas (Department of Venezuela), and 
Quito (Department of Quito). In that year, not all the provinces of the 
former viceroyalty were free yet.

The constitution of the new republic was drafted in 1821 at the Congress 
of Czcuta, establishing its capital in Bogota. A great degree of 
centralisation was established here, as several convinced federalists 
now came to believe that it would be necessary in order to better manage 
a unified war effort, at least for the time being.

A new territorial division (Venezuela, Cundinamarca, and Quito were 
split into various smaller departments) was conceived. Simsn Bolmvar was 
elected president and Francisco de Paula Santander vice president.

In the first years of existence, Gran Colombia helped other provinces 
still at war with Spain to become independent - Panama came to the 
federation in 1821 and so did the remaining provinces of Quito and 
Venezuela.

 Federalists against separatists

As the war against Spain came to an end, federalist and regionalist 
sentiments began to arise once again. Permanent calls for modifications 
of the political division (along with related economic and commercial 
disputes) during the existence of Gran Colombia, as a result of local 
confrontations between the regions, led to local changes and compromises.

These changes never fully pleased contemporaries and little permanent 
consolidation was achieved, showing the instability of the state's 
structure.

Bolmvar dreamt of uniting Latin America but was unable to achieve this 
during the struggle for independence. The Republic of Gran Colombia was 
his initial attempt at creating a single Latin American state.

Other regional and South American politicians, however, objected to his 
idea, and Bolmvar, disgruntled, resigned from the project in 1828 and 
from his presidency in early 1830.

Internal political strife between the different regions intensified 
after Bolmvar's resignation and continued even as General Rafael 
Urdaneta temporarily took power in Bogota, attempting to use his 
authority to ostensibly restore order and give the presidency back to 
Bolmvar.

The federation finally dissolved during the rest of 1830 and was 
formally abolished in 1831, as Venezuela, Ecuador and New Granada came 
to exist as independent states.

 .........
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republic_of_Gran_Colombia