After years on the receiving end of insults and unfounded attacks from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, President Bush finally is engaging in some tough talk with the firebrand/demagogue who wants to lead a leftist movement against the United States.

Last week, Bush took a few long-overdue shots at Chavez — all part of a renewed White House effort to back the Colombian government and its war against the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), leftist guerrillas for which Chavez has expressed admiration.

Bush said, "The region is facing an increasingly stark choice: to quietly accept the vision of the terrorists and the demagogues or to actively support democratic leaders like President (Alvaro) Uribe (of Colombia)."

"I've made my choice," Bush added. "I'm standing with courageous leadership that believes in freedom and peace."

Bush is making a new effort to promote the U.S.-Colombia free trade agreement, which stupidly has been stalled by Democrats in Congress. He says the agreement is an essential weapon to fight Chavez's growing influence in Latin America. He should have been talking this way a long time ago, but it's better late than never.

"As it tries to expand its influence in Latin America, the (Chavez) regime claims to promote social justice," Bush said in a speech. "In truth, its agenda amounts to little more than empty promises and a thirst for power. It has squandered its oil wealth in an effort to promote its hostile anti-American vision. And it has left its own citizens to face food shortages while it threatens its neighbors."

Chavez responded with his usual diatribe, calling Bush a "terrorist" responsible for "genocide." But at least now he is getting a response from the White House. We simply couldn't afford to ignore him any longer.

After all, Chavez nearly started a South American war recently, when he ordered Venezuelan troops to the border with Colombia because of an incident that had nothing to do with Venezuela.

The real border feud was between Colombia and Ecuador. On March 1, Colombian troops chased FARC guerrillas across their border with Ecuador and killed a group of rebels on Ecuadorian soil. It sparked a conflict that threatened to escalate into a war but was settled peacefully at a summit of Latin American presidents one week later.

Nevertheless, Bush said Venezuela's response to the conflict between Colombia and Ecuador was "the latest step in a disturbing pattern of provocative behavior by the regime in Caracas."

Obviously, the reason Chavez was so willing to get involved in this conflict is Colombian soldiers obtained evidence in the raid into Ecuador that implicates both Chavez and Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa as supporters of the FARC.

The Colombian government has charged that at least one document in a computer recovered from the rebels suggests Chavez recently gave $300 million to the FARC.

Because the United States considers the FARC a terrorist organization — and because now there is evidence that Chavez is supporting the rebels — Venezuela should be designated as a sponsor of terror.

Bush has toughened his talk against Chavez, but the question now is whether he is willing to put Venezuela on the U.S. list of state sponsors of terrorism, which is what some U.S. lawmakers are calling for. According to published reports citing a U.S. official, the White House has asked attorneys to look into the requirements for placing Venezuela on the list.

However, taking such a step could be costly. Venezuela is a major U.S. oil supplier, and Chavez already has threatened to shut off the spigot if we don't let his "Bolivarian Revolution" take over most of our hemisphere.

"They threatened to put us on the list of terrorists that they've got there. Great, let them make their list and shove it in their … pocket," Chavez said, with an intentional pause. He did not repeat an earlier threat to stop selling oil to the United States, but the implication was there.

For Bush, this is a tough call — and perhaps the main reason he had restrained from engaging in tough talk with Chavez. If he puts Venezuela on the blacklist, it could disrupt the flow of oil we purchase from that country and make many Americans scream at the gas pump. But if he doesn't put Venezuela on the U.S. list of terror sponsors — along with Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Sudan and Syria — what good is having a list?

Where is our credibility if we call Chavez a sponsor of FARC terrorists but fail to sanction him, as we do with others, because we need his oil? Where are our principles? Are we going to allow Hugo Chavez to hold us hostage?

When asked whether the United States will put Venezuela on the list of terror sponsors, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice gave a noncommittal response: "We will watch the situation and … act accordingly."

Not good enough! If the Bush administration is going to talk the talk with Chavez, it better be ready to walk the walk to create sanctions against Venezuela.

To find out more about Miguel Perez and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate Web page at www.creators.com.

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