Venezuela 'sends tanks to border'

After Colombia made wild accusations and even wilder actions against its neighbors, both Venezuela and Ecuador sent military units to the borders of Colombia to tell Colombia to respect their borders and to relieve the tension between Columbia and its neighbors.

The end result of the Latin America peace talks: Colombia stopped hostilities with its neighbors.

This was Venezuela's and Ecuador's ultimate goals. They got what they wanted. Colombia had to stop its antagonistic behavior and act like a friendly nation.

No wonder Chavez seemed so happy.

In the end, everyone (sort of) wins (for now).

There is no war between Colombia vs. Ecuador and Venezuela. Venezuela's oil industry will continue to sell oil to the US. Colombia will continue to sell drugs to the US, and the US will buy these drugs for recreational and entertainment purposes and criminalize the drugs at the same time. All three Latin American nations will continue to sell many natural resources to the US and to the rest of the world.

Baibar of Jalat said:

Therefore any country is justified in taking military action to protect themselves.

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Exactly Colombia's point.

They did not threaten or attack any Ecuadoran military, infrastructure, or population...just the terrorists staging against the Colombian elected governemnt, with impunity, from the border regions inside Ecuador.

I just realized that I have been incorrectly spelling the nation of Colombia. It is spelled with two "o's" and not with an "o" and a "u." Other people made the same mistakes.

Colombia (the nation) = correct

Columbia (the nation) = wrong

Infra_Man99 said:

I just realized that I have been incorrectly spelling the nation of Colombia. It is spelled with two "o's" and not with an "o" and a "u." Other people made the same mistakes.

Colombia (the nation) = correct

Columbia (the nation) = wrong

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Thanks. I went back and corrected all of mine on this thread.

FuManChu said:

News pictures? That doesn't indicate anything. It was Chavez who sent tanks to the border. What did he get out of Colombia? Nothing. It is Chavez who has lost because he had to back down quickly.

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I completely disagree with you here. I like pictures and find them to be VERY informative. I also like audio, videos, graphs, charts, diagrams, and other types of information. I think the world is much better off with multiple types of information and not just with words. Keep in mind there is no 100%-sure information, only 99.999999%-sure information. This is my opinion. You are free to live in a world with only words and nothing else, but you are missing out on a whole lot.

Anyhow, there is a dispute on what is going on according to all the involved parties, but the end result is peace at the Rio Group summit.

Here is what I got:

Nicaragua has a border dispute with Colombia (something to do with islands or sea lanes or sea borders).

Ecuador disagrees with Colombia on handling Colombia's social unrests that are potential civil wars.

Venezuela disagrees with Colombia's solution to Colombia's social unrests.

Nicaragua, Ecuador, Venezuela, and other Latin American nations disagree with Colombia's close economic and military ties with the US government.

Colombia's government is fighting against rebels who have bases in other Latin American nations. Colombia believes these rebels are receiving help or not enough punishment from other Latin American nations, so Colombia decided to handle things on its own terms. Colombia sent its forces to chase after rebels and followed the rebels into Ecuador.

Ecuador sent its forces to its border with Colombia and told Colombia to back off. Colombia accused Ecuador of helping or being neutral to the rebels. Venezuela sent its forces to its border with Colombia in support of Ecuador. Nicaragua politically supported Ecuador. Latin American nations told all these nations to cool off, so they held the Rio Group summit.

At the Rio Group summit Latin American nations came together and agreed to withdraw military forces, forgive each other (or work towards forgiveness), peacefully work together, and to not send troops into another nation without the other nation's approval. Whose ultimate goal was this? Who benefited from this solution? What is your version of this incident?

Venezuela with 50 helicopters of the type Mi-17, Mi-35M and Mi26T
- I wonder if Colombia could handle Venezuelan Jets + Helicopters.

Infra_Man99 said:

I completely disagree with you here. I like pictures and find them to be VERY informative... You are free to live in a world with only words and nothing else, but you are missing out on a whole lot.

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No need to be unpleasant - of course I look at pictures. But it is foolish to give them undue weight. So what if someone is grinning? It can be a sign of confidence or desperation to be liked/regarded well. Chavez grins all the time - maybe he's like the Joker in that something is wrong with his face! :roll:

On the other hand if a person is guarded/neutral they can be refusing to give comfort to the other side because they know they've won.

You take what you want from it - an image is subjective.

On the other hand facts are more objective. If Chavez starts a fuss by sending troops to the border and making threats, then backs down with nothing to show for it then he has lost by any objective consideration. Pictures don't change that one bit.

FuManChu said:

You take what you want from it - an image is subjective.

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Words are subjective, too. You ever heard of opinions? Let me give you an example of an opinion. Just because a person says "Chavez started this mess," or if a newspaper says "Colombia was wrong," does not make the statement 100% factual. This is why opinions can be found around the world, different newspapers exist around the world, and different nations exist.

As the line goes, "There is [at least] two sides to every story." Some opinions are more ridiculous than others and others are more realistic than others. This is something to be studied, which is why even scientists run experiments to argue over "facts" or why scientists have "degrees of certainty."

Here is another example of an opinion: I think Colombia wronged its neighbors, which is why it received rebukes or military responses from Ecuador, Venezuela, and Nicaragua. Other Latin American nations held a summit to tell the involved parties to end border hostilities and to respect each other's borders.

Sometimes things are pleasant, neutral, or unpleasant. It is a matter of an entity's opinion. Example: Colombia's actions were considered very unpleasant by at least three of its neighbors, and vice versa.

Infra_Man99 said:

Here is another example of an opinion: I think Colombia wronged its neighbors, which is why it received rebukes or military responses from Ecuador, Venezuela, and Nicaragua.

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Here's my opinion on this point.

Colombia took a quantifiable risk to defend itself from leftist terrorists who have vowed to bring down the democratically elected government of Colombia, and who have waged war to accomplish that task. Colombia went into a remote area of a sanctuary country for these enemies and took a major enemy leader and his contingent down...knowing that the three leftists leaders in the region (Ecuador, Venezuela, and certainly Nicarauga) would not approve, but figuring that they could contain the political uproar while taking down a critically important threat to their nation...and doing so while being careful to not outright attack Ecuadoran infrastructure, military, or civilan population centers.

I believe Colombia was successful.

I also believe that the bravado from particularly Chavez was just that...bravado...particularly once his hand was found to be so abjectly in the cookie jar. Now it has cooled down, and I am grateful for that.