Wake-Up Call for Buried Heads

Whenever I write about Latin America, I'm amazed by the responses I get from some readers, especially those who claim not to care about what's happening in our own backyard.

Like ostriches burying their heads in the sand, they don't even want to know about issues that affect them.

Some complain about the influx of undocumented immigrants, but they don't care about the reasons many people are driven to come here. Some worry about the violence coming northbound across the Mexican border, but not about the guns going southbound and fueling the bloodshed. Others criticize Latin America's drug production, but not North America's drug consumption. And others think of themselves as guardians of freedom and human rights, but not when those rights are violated south of the U.S. border. Ignorance is bliss!

Yet now that someone is threatening to dig into their pockets by making us Americans pay much more at the gas pump, perhaps they'll begin to care.

When Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States Sunday, the socialist despot sent us a huge reality check.

Venezuela is our fifth-largest oil supplier. If that spigot suddenly were shut off, there is no doubt we would see a huge spike in our gas prices.

Chavez has been trying to get our attention for years. He even came to New York and told the United Nations that then-President George W. Bush was the devil. But many of us refused to pay attention or to take his diatribe very seriously.

Yet now that he has been caught with his hands in the cookie jar — harboring Colombian terrorists in Venezuelan territory — Chavez is trying to divert attention by threatening a potential economic war against the United States.

Talk of possible military conflict between Venezuela and Colombia has been simmering for years. Colombia has been receiving U.S. taxpayer funds for its war against drug-trafficking/leftist guerrillas, and the Venezuelan government doesn't even try to hide its sympathy for the rebels' cause. After all, in Chavez's view, we are the evil empire and Colombia, instead of trying to protect its citizens from murdering thugs, simply is doing our bidding.

It's crazy, I know, but so is the man trying to provoke a South American war and trying to draw us in.

"If there is any armed aggression against Venezuela from Colombian territory or anywhere else supported by the Yankee empire, we ... would suspend shipments of oil to the United States," el loco Chavez said Sunday.

His declaration of an economic war against the United States followed Colombia's charges that many of the rebel leaders and some 1,500 guerrillas they are pursuing are crossing into Venezuela and taking refuge there after causing havoc in Colombia.

In an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States last Thursday, the Colombian ambassador presented videos, photos and maps pinpointing the locations of Colombian rebel camps within Venezuela.

Yet instead of denying that Colombian rebels are given refuge in Venezuela, the Venezuelan ambassador to the OAS only denied that there was enough evidence to prove it. And Chavez, with his back against the wall, immediately broke diplomatic relations with Colombia, ordered Colombian diplomats to leave Venezuela, started foolish talk about possible conflict along the 1,200-mile border between the two countries, and threatened an oil embargo against the United States.

Refusing to be intimidated, outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, the strongest U.S. ally in Latin America, fired back in a speech Saturday, when he explained that Colombia is being attacked from rebel bases in Venezuela. "These bandits enter, do us harm and then return to a foreign country, violating the sovereignty of brother nations," Uribe said.

Although Colombia has not threatened military action and Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos has made many conciliatory gestures that one would assume might improve relations between the two countries when he takes office Aug. 7, Chavez keeps implying that Colombia — propped by the United States — is itching for a military conflict.

But it's the other way around! Chavez is the one who is itching for a fight, especially against the United States. Some say he can't afford to wage an economic war against us — that Venezuela can't survive without selling oil to the United States. But Chavez doesn't care about Venezuela. He cares only about his legacy. He wants to be remembered as the man who stood against the evil empire, and he is crazy enough to do anything to get his way.

American isolationists may not believe this is serious. They may continue to bury their heads in the sand. Some even may argue that Colombia should not make a fuss about rebel attacks from foreign soil so that our gas prices will not be affected. But if there were terrorist camps getting ready to attack us from Mexico or Canada, we would not wait for the spineless OAS to send inspectors. We would bomb them first and ask questions later.

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.

COPYRIGHT 2010 CREATORS.COM