[softy54534]

In the meantime Chavez sends tanks to the border and calls Colombia "Israel"

I believe the Jewish community of Venezuela should SERIOUSLY THINK of emigrating ASAP.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satelli...cle%2FShowFull

[Big A]

Maybe they should go TO Colombia:

http://web.israel21c.net/bin/en.jsp?...Zone=Profiles&

From news article:
Colombians look to kibbutz model to fight terror
By Karin Kloosterman
February 28, 2008

In a bid to rehabilitate former guerrillas, the Colombian government has turned to Israel to help build a network of kibbutzim in Colombia.

They have called on Israeli Juan Gomez, 49, a former Colombian, to help. Gomez is a member of Kibbutz Grofit in the Arava Desert, which is known for its dates, fish farms in the Red Sea, and its plastic's factory. He was in Colombia last month for introductory talks, and this weekend four officials from Colombia will come to Israel to learn more.

"They think that the [Israeli] kibbutz system, through the changes of the last years, is a good system for them. They want to copy the new kibbutz idea," Gomez, the manager of the date plantations at Grofit, told ISRAEL21c.

Gomez first came to Israel 20 years ago, and has lived and worked on the kibbutz south of Beersheva for the past 15 years. The married father of three girls, who is not Jewish, thinks that the kibbutz model can help rehabilitate the land and people of Colombia.

"The kibbutz is entering a new era," he says. "It is an old-fashioned system, but [the world] is entering a renewal of social democracy. We can give a chance to Colombia."

Israel's kibbutz movement began at the start of the 20th century. Forced by the harsh conditions of Israel in its early days into communal life, and inspired by socialism and Zionism, the early kibbutzim developed a communal model of living that attracted worldwide interest.

Over the years, however, the kibbutzim ran into both financial and ideological problems. Loaded with debt, many kibbutzim have now been privatized, while in others kibbutz members have begun earning their own salaries in accordance with the work they carry out. Most have been forced to adapt in one way or another to a new reality.

The change, however, appears to be good. In the past year, kibbutzim have seen a revival, and an influx of volunteers is signing up to participate in the kibbutz experience.

This may be a good model for Colombia to follow. Over the past four decades guerrilla warfare has terrorized Colombians in rural regions. There has been in-fighting in jungles and an alarming amount of civilian massacres in marginal communities.

Over recent years the violence has crept into major cities. And although the government recently negotiated with thousands of guerrilla fighters by offering them amnesty if they hand over their weapons, there are few work options available to them.

Turning from one evil to another, the former guerillas become Coca farmers, the raw ingredient used in making cocaine. The Colombian government desperately wants to change this trend and has turned to Gomez, originally from the city of Medellin, to help them.

In January, Gomez traveled to Colombia to explore ways in which these former guerillas can learn farming techniques. Gomez visited officials at about 30 sites and addressed people he couldn't meet through video-conferencing. He also offered advice on which crops could work best in Colombia.

Gomez modestly explains that they are still in the very beginning stages, and if the Israeli kibbutz model were set up in Colombia, it would take at least two to three years to implement.

The idea to adopt the kibbutz model came by way of Colombia's Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development, Andres Felipe Arias Leiva, "He is a young minister at 34," says Gomez. "And a freak of new technology. He is interested in new technology and knows about Israel's experience, and invited me on that aspect."

A number of top-tier officials from Israel are also involved, and Gomez is sure that the potential of such cooperation will enhance industry and trade for both countries. Israel offers not only agricultural skills, but high-end technology that can increase crop yields and conserve water.

Israeli organizations involved include Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MASHAV), the United Kibbutz Movement, and IsraAID. A prominent partner on the Colombian side includes the government-owned National Training Service of Colombia (el SENA), which invited Gomez last month to Colombia.
"I was invited by the Government of Colombia to check the possibility of doing something like a kibbutz there - to give legal growers of Colombia the ability to associate and be like kibbutz communities in Israel."

"The Governor of Colombia wants to improve agriculture. He wants to finish with terror and drugs. We can bring the knowledge and technology," says Gomez.

[doctorzlo]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...=latin_america

By Helen Murphy

March 3 (Bloomberg) -- Colombia's police chief Oscar Naranjo said documents from the computer of a guerrilla leader killed last weekend in Ecuador show links to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez.

The documents on the computer of Raul Reyes, the second in command of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, indicate that Venezuela provided the guerrillas with at least $300 million and would help Chavez in the event of a U.S. attack on Venezuela.

Naranjo said the FARC, as the group is known, was seeking to buy 50 kilos of uranium for bomb making with aim of getting involved in international terrorism.

To contact the reporter on this story: Helen Murphy in Bogota at Hmurphy1@bloomberg.net

[PhillipHer]

by Austin Bay

March 4, 2008

The real news behind South America's latest border fracas is Colombia's looming victory in its own narcotics-powered civil war.

This is a victory Colombia's chief international antagonist, Venezuelan caudillo Hugo Chavez, fears -- for several calculating reasons.

Let's start with Colombia's slow and grueling democratic accomplishment. On Feb. 5, hundreds of thousands of Colombian citizens marched in the capital, Bogota, in a mass protest against crime and terrorism. Their anger had an explicit political target: the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, better known by its Spanish acronym, FARC.

The jam-packed demonstrations impressed reporters and correspondents who have followed Colombia's brutal two decades of "The New Violence." The protests provided in-your-face media evidence that security in Bogota had indeed improved dramatically and that public confidence in local and national institutions had revived.

Seven years ago, Colombia was being kidnapped, murdered and blown to shreds. In the dark year 2001, rebels kidnapped over 2,500 people. Rebel groups of the left (FARC) and right (AUC, United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia) fought one another and the government. Six thousand people died in the crossfire. The Colombian Army remained, for the most part, on the strategic defensive.

The grim years of murder stripped FARC of its vestigial Marxist political veneer, revealing it as a drug army attempting to hijack a nation. Colombians turned against FARC. In 2002, Colombia began hammering out an incremental victory over FARC and other narco-gangsters. (Critics of democratic Iraq, take note.)

By 2005, the Colombian military's counterinsurgency operations and the government's tough reform programs had clearly squeezed FARC into a few hard jungle corners. FARC, however, maintained bases in Ecuador (definite evidence) and --Colombia alleged -- inside Venezuelan territory.
This week, Colombia launched a strike against a FARC base in Ecuador. Tired of terrorism, Colombia is not going to let FARC thugs hide in Ecuadorian or Venezuelan jungles. Moreover, the Colombian government now says FARC intended to attack Colombia with "dirty" (radioactive) bombs in a desperate blitz to cow the populace. Colombian president Alvaro Uribe said, "We cannot allow terrorists who seek refuge in other countries to spill the blood of our countrymen."

Ecuador and its ally, Venezuela, responded by threatening Colombia with war.

Colombia argues that support for FARC by Ecuador and Venezuela means a state of quasi-war already exists.

FARC definitely established a political relationship with Chavez-led Venezuela. Chavez advocates "socialism" (socialist dictatorship), and FARC had Marxist roots. Last year, the connections became overt when Chavez asked Colombia to agree to let FARC use Venezuela as a "sanctuary zone."

Despite their blatant thuggery, both Chavez and FARC still have "progressive" apologists in Europe and among American leftists. Chavez claims Fidel Castro's "anti-Yankee" legacy, which polishes his "progressive" appeal. Add this to the flammable mix: Ecuador's president is a personal ally of Chavez and something of a protege.

The conventional wisdom says Chavez is bluffing. The Peru-Ecuador Border War of 1995, however, demonstrates that border skirmishing in South America can quickly escalate. Still, South American border wars stir nationalist passions -- in the 1995 conflict, Peru's authoritarian president, Alberto Fujimori, saw his popularity skyrocket.

Chavez faces domestic troubles. He has brutalized his domestic opponents. He has squandered Venezuela's oil windfall -- on populist political schemes and Russian weapons. He suffered a stinging setback in late 2007 in a referendum that would have essentially made him president for life. Oil production is declining. His political supporters have enriched themselves, sparking resentment among poor Venezuelans who once overwhelmingly backed Chavez.

Thus a little border scrap with Colombia could boost Chavez' sagging domestic fortunes. Colombia and Venezuela have had several border demarcation disputes.

Chavez himself introduces other curious elements that could lead to a larger war. Chavez styles himself as South America's new liberator, a new Simon Bolivar. Chavez's "Chavismo" (echoing Fidel Castro's "Fidelismo") combines machismo, socialism, caudilloism, populism, anti-Americanism and the flamboyant dream of a new "Bolivarian state" in South America. Of course, this delusional super-state -- cobbled from Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, parts of Peru, Bolivia and Guyana, and possibly the Dutch West Indies -- needs a "great leader": Hugo Chavez.

Colombia, however, demonstrates that political thugs and terrorists can be beaten. It provides a democratic model that challenges Chavismo.
Colombia is solidifying its difficult victory. Chavez knows if Colombia succeeds it would empower his own democratic opposition. And the border fracas maybe his last chance to forge his grandiose "Bolivarian state."

[TorryJens]

Colombia Gets An Aerial Tanker

March 6, 2008: The recently announced Colombian purchase of 24 Israeli Kfir fighters deliberately left out another part of the deal, the sale of a aerial tanker. Israel will also be providing a B767 aircraft converted to provide aerial refueling of the Kfirs. This is a big deal in light of recent warlike announcements from Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez (who is upset that Colombia killed a Colombian leftist rebel leader, of FARC, just across the border in Ecuador, and captured a laptop containing emails exposing the long, and close, relationship between Chavez and FARC.)

The second hand B767 tanker will cost $60 million. Each of the second hand Kfirs will cost about $8 million. These are 1980s vintage, 16 ton aircraft based on the French Mirage III, but much upgraded from the original 1970s design. Kfirs can carry six tons of weapons, fly as high as 75,000 feet, has a max speed of 2,400 kilometers an hour and a normal operating radius of 700 kilometers. Sorties normally last 2-3 hours, but with aerial refueling, the Kfirs can take off with a full bomb load, and reach anywhere inside, say, Venezuela.

Israel built 185 Kfirs, and still has 120 in storage. Israel has been trying to sell them as an inexpensive alternative to jets of more recent vintage. Kfirs have two 30mm cannon built in. The aircraft is only equipped to use short range, heat seeking air-to-air missiles, but can also deliver laser and GPS guided smart bombs as well as Maverick and anti-radiation missiles. Apparently, Colombia will equip the Kfirs with electronic monitoring pods, to track the movements of leftist rebels and drug gangs, and then use smart bombs to attack targets in remote areas. The tanker will enable Kfirs on this kind of duty to stay in the air for eight hours or more . Delivery of the Kfirs will begin in about a year. Colombia bought 12 Kfirs C7s in 1989 (for about $15 million each), and still has 11 in service. The new ones will be Kfir C10s, with a new radar, that has a range of 140 kilometers (for air or ground targets.)

[9mm_fan]

BTW ALL Kfir sales are subject to US State Department approval.

[Drugmachine]

http://www.scramble.nl/co.htm

The Fuerza Aérea Colombiana is very big into helicopters.

[radikal]

Another top FARC'r was assassinated by his own security detail

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080307/..._rebels?retief