The plot against Venezuela.

• Author: Petras, James
• Position: Thinking Politically

A major diplomatic and political conflict has exploded between Colombia and Venezuela after the revelation of a Colombian government covert operation in Venezuela, involving the recruitment of Venezuelan military and security officers in the kidnapping of a Colombian leftist leader. Following an investigation by the Venezuelan Ministry of Interior and reports and testimony from journalists and other knowledgeable political observers it was determined that the highest echelons of the Colombian government, including President Uribe, planned and executed this onslaught on Venezuelan sovereignty.

Once direct Colombian involvement was established, the Venezuelan government demanded a public apology from the Colombian government while seeking a diplomatic solution by blaming Colombian Presidential advisers. The Colombian regime responded by launching an aggressive defense of its involvement in the violation of Venezuelan sovereignty--seeking to establish in advance, under the rationale of "national security," the legitimacy of future acts of aggression.

In justifying the kidnapping of Rodrigo Granda, the Colombian leftist leader, the Uribe regime has promulgated a new foreign policy doctrine which echoes that of the Bush Administration--the right of unilateral intervention in any country that the Colombian government claims is harboring political adversaries who might threaten the security of the state. The Uribe doctrine of unilateral intervention echoes the preventive war speech, enunciated in late 2001 by President Bush. Clearly Uribe's action and pronouncement is profoundly influenced by the dominance that Washington exercises over the Uribe regime's policies through its extended $3 billion dollar military aid program and deep penetration of the entire political-defense apparatus.

Uribe's offensive military doctrine involves several major policy propositions, clearly echoing Washington's global pronouncements:

* The right to violate any country's sovereignty, including the use of force and violence, directly or in cooperation with local mercenaries.

* The right to recruit and subvert military and security officials to serve the interests of the Colombian state.

* The right to allocate funds to bounty hunters or "third parties" to engage in illegal violent acts within a target country.

* The assertion of the supremacy of Colombian laws, decrees and policies over and against the sovereign laws of the intervened country.

While the immediate point of aggression involves Colombia's relations to Venezuela, the Uribe Doctrine lays the basis for unilateral military intervention anywhere in the hemisphere.

Colombia's adoption and implementation of the extraterritorial policy as part of its strategy of unilateral intervention is not coincidental. The Colombian security forces have been trained and advised by US and Israeli secret agencies. More directly, through its $3 billion dollar military aid program Washington is in a command-and-control position within all sectors of the Colombian government and thus able to determine the security doctrine of the Uribe regime. More importantly, Uribe had been a long-time, large-scale practitioner of death squad politics prior to his ascent to the Presidency and prior to receiving large-scale US aid. By borrowing the Bush Doctrine from his patron-state, Uribe has internationalized the terror practices that he has pursued for the past 20 years within Colombia.

The Uribe regime has engaged in frequent interventions, kidnappings, and assassinations of popular leaders and soldiers from bordering countries. It also has a history of providing...