# Venezuela cuts ties with Colombia **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [July 23, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755 "2010-07-23T19:10:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/1 "2010-07-23T19:10:03Z")
[Story here.](http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hCIKDzMk3thB2iiP8uhH7lXThSCQD9H4TQMG0) In a nutshell, Colombia claims roughly 1,500 Colombian leftist [FARC](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_Armed_Forces_of_Colombia) rebels have set up a base in Venezuela. The Chavez government denies this, says it does all it can to keep Colombian rebels from crossing the border, and accuses Colombia of trying to provoke a conflict. Venezuela has cut ties to Colombia and put its military on alert. Colombia is a U.S. ally; Venezuela is not exactly an enemy, but U.S.-Venezuelan relations have been strained since Chavez became president. Colombia and Venezuela have had diplomatic crises before, most recently [in 2008](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_South_American_diplomatic_crisis), without escalation to war. Wikipedia article: [Colombia-Venezuela Relations.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombia%E2%80%93Venezuela_relations) Issues for debate: 1. Are there FARC rebels camping in Venezuela or not? a) If so, why? Why does the government allow them there? I mean, can Chavez actually be hoping, after all this time, that the FARC will ever win? 2. Will this cool down, like in 2008, or get worse? 3. What will, or should, the U.S. do about any of this? 4. Is the [Union of South American Nations](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/South_American_Union) still a viable project, with two of its members on such intractably bad terms? ---
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2010, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/2 "2010-07-23T19:16:33Z")
Venezuela is providing itself the enemy without, since the ones within have all been emasculated. IMO. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2010, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/3 "2010-08-09T19:26:40Z")
Well, [Chavez is going to Colombia tomorrow, to meet with its new president, Juan Manuel Santos.](http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5hyQYdSojY-YqxIonSnLBbnBAxMKw) Maybe they’ll iron things out. ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2010, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/4 "2010-08-10T19:39:58Z")
[Interview with Latin American historian Greg Grandin:](http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/10/latin_american_historian_greg_grandin_on) > [@](#): > > AMY GOODMAN: Greg, the significance of the former defense minister of Uribe, now president of Colombia, Santos, saying he wanted to improve relations with, well, Venezuela, also Ecuador? > > GREG GRANDIN: Yeah, well, I think that he’s caught between a rock and a hard place between pressures from within Colombia that have mitigated against establishing good relations with Venezuela. I mean, if we step back and we look at the beginning of this conflict back in 2007, 2008, Chávez actually had good relationships with Uribe. He had offered to mediate, and he was mediating the release of hostages held by the FARC. There was incredible pressure placed on Uribe within Colombia by the military, by the oligarchy, and by the United States, not to allow that to go forward, not to kind of showcase Venezuela’s role as a mediator. And he broke relationships with Venezuela, and Venezuela was kind of left hanging out there. And that’s where all the accusations came from, over exaggerated intelligence reports or falsified intelligence reports about Venezuela’s relationship with the FARC, and relations deteriorated. And these are both pragmatic men, Santos and Chávez, in their own way, and I think that they have a lot invested in trying to reestablish good relations. We’ll see how long it lasts. > > AMY GOODMAN: What would you say is the legacy of Uribe, and if you do hold out hope for Santos? > > GREG GRANDIN: Well, that’s the question. Uribe’s legacy is basically four things. One is massive civilian deaths—14,000, 15,000 civilians killed during the war, thousands killed under this false positive in which—practice, in which the military would dress up civilians as guerrillas in order to raise the body count in terms of how many guerrillas were killed. They just found a mass grave of 2,000. There’s massive internal displacement. Colombia has the highest internally displaced population in the world, over two million. It’s an enormous tragedy. But more important, more structurally, is, Uribe presided over what could be understood as the kind of normalization of paramilitary politics, in which paramilitaries weren’t so much vanquished as they went legit. They took over local municipal governments. They moved into particularly biofuel production. There’s been a massive land grab under Uribe. Ten million acres of land, half of the arable land in Colombia, is now seized paramilitary land. That’s not going to change. > > This is the kind of legacy that Uribe has left to Santos. And Santos, the question is if he’s going to continue it or if he’s going to try to change it. The big challenge for Santos is that the Uribe model is unraveling. People hold up Uribe as a model, or the Plan Colombia as a model, of success, for having brought down the FARC, having brought down violence in key urban cities, like Bogatá and Medellín. Over the last year, year and a half, that’s been unraveling. There’s more FARC activity. Crime in Medellín has gotten—homicide rate in Medellín has skyrocketed. And the hope that—or the attempt to normalize paramilitary politics by bringing them into government on the local level, that’s also unraveling. There’s factions within paramilitaries. They work with what’s called “mini-paramilitaries” that are spinning off, that are now fighting with each other over spoils. And Santos, this is the kind of mess that Santos has inherited, when, outside, politically, it has a reputation as being a success, but internally, there’s a lot of strains. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/5 "2010-08-14T14:57:43Z")
> **[Narco News Reports the Facts on Narco-Candidate Uribe](https://www.narconews.com/narcocandidate1.html)** Must read to understand Uribe, Colombia and drugs. There’s so much but here’s a taste. > [@](#): > > Uribe’s own actions as a bureaucrat and later mayor of the City of Medellín, as the governor of the State of Antioquia - where his government secretary (chief of staff, in US terms) Pedro Juan Moreno Villa executed Uribe’s paramilitary strategy with grave consequences for the unprotected public - and his campaign manager’s simultaneous control over the cocaine precursor chemical industry that thus controls the cocaine industry, indicate what kind of government the US-backed Uribe will lead if successful in the May 26th presidential elections. > The polls indicate that, if the election were held today, Uribe would win, if only because so many other candidates and potential candidates have been assassinated, kidnapped or neutralized as a direct result of US policy to aggravate Colombia’s Civil War. > The New Colombia News Agency reported on Uribe’s record “as mayor of Medellin in the early 1980s when the city was known as ‘The Sanctuary’ due to the complete protection that the traffickers enjoyed from the city administration.” > > ``` > "At this time, Uribe was involved in at least two city projects in which Pablo Escobar himself was also deeply involved: One, the construction of a neighbourhood for poor people known as 'Medellin sin Tugurios' ('Medellin without Slums') and, the other, a civic program that aimed to plant thousands of trees in the city. > "Pablo Escobar financed both projects in an attempt to improve his public image and Uribe publicly supported both efforts. Indeed, Uribe even opened the new neighbourhood when it was completed despite the fact that most of the positive press coverage actually went to Escobar." > > ``` > > Another journalist to tackle the issues that the United States press, so far, fails to address, was El Espectador columnist Fernando Garavito, in a February column. New Colombia News Agency cites him, reporting: > > ``` > "Garavito pointed out that during the time that Uribe was director of Colombia's Civil Aeronautics agency (1980-1982) numerous pilot licenses were handed over to the Medellin drug cartel - allowing their pilots to fly huge quantities of cocaine out of Colombia and towards or into the United States. Indeed Uribe was allegedly sacked as director for this misdemeanour." > > ``` > > “Thirdly,” reports New Colombia News Agency, "was Uribe’s performance as a senator between 1986 and 1994 when he consistently supported legislation that the drug cartels supported and consistently opposed that which they opposed. The best example of this, and the one the both Garavito and Castillo gave, was Uribe’s vehement opposition to a plan before the Colombian Congress to hold a public referendum on whether or not to allow the courts to extradite drug traffickers to the United States - a plan that the cartels were violently opposed to and which Uribe, using his position as senator, did his best to sabotage. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2010, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/6 "2010-08-14T15:04:12Z")
Oh goody, another chance for a 21st century version of the War of the Triple Alliance. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/7 "2010-08-16T06:45:42Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Oh goody, another chance for a 21st century version of the War of the Triple Alliance. With, I assume, the USA carrying the British Torch of Empire. Drug running was always big for the Brits. ---
**Author:** ![erez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@erez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erez)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 8:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/8 "2010-08-16T08:45:03Z")
There is a very good editoral in the Washington Post about Venezuela and Chavez: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081205675.html?wpisrc=nl\_opinions](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081205675.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions) > [@](#): > > Over the past couple of years, captured documents and other evidence have established beyond any reasonable doubt that Mr. Chávez’s regime has provided haven and material support to the FARC movement in neighboring Colombia – a group that is known for massacres of civilians, hostage taking and drug trafficking, and that has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and the European Union. > [@](#): > > Mr. Chávez’s response to the maps, photographs, videos and other documentary evidence laid out by Colombia’s ambassador was to immediately break diplomatic relations and to threaten war. Here is what the veteran diplomat nominated by the Obama administration as its next ambassador to Venezuela said: > [@](#): > > He said that he was “keenly aware of the clear ties between members of the Venezuelan government and Colombian guerrillas.” He said that he was “concerned” that two individuals designated as international drug traffickers by the Treasury Department “are high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan government.” He reported “growing Cuban-Venezuelan cooperation in the fields of intelligence services and the military” and “morale and equipment problems” in the Venezuelan army. ---
**Author:** ![erez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e47c2d/32.png) [@erez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/erez)\ **Post date:** [August 16, 2010, 9:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/9 "2010-08-16T09:13:29Z")
Here are some very recent headlines from Venezuela illustrating growing suppression of the freedom of speech by the government: > **[Ex-General in Venezuela, a Chávez Foe, Faces Inquiry (Published 2010)](https://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/world/americas/12venez.html)** > > Retired Brig. Gen. Antonio Rivero was once the government’s emergency management director, but he retired after concerns about what he viewed as a growing Cuban influence in the military. > [@](#): > > A former Venezuelan Army general who denounced the growing involvement of Cuban troops in President Hugo Chávez’s military appeared before prosecutors on Wednesday to respond to accusations that he had insulted the armed forces and revealed military secrets. [http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/13/1775498/judge-jailed-in-venezuela-hopes.html](http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/13/1775498/judge-jailed-in-venezuela-hopes.html) > [@](#): > > Judge María Lourdes Afiuni, jailed for releasing a foe of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, is hoping she can win an election that will also get her out of jail. [http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100810-711338.html](http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100810-711338.html) > [@](#): > > Venezuela’s government said Tuesday that it plans to liquidate Banco Federal, a mid-sized bank seized by authorities in June for alleged liquidity problems. > > The bank’s former president, Nelson Mezerhane, is an outspoken critic of Venezuela President Hugo Chavez and claims the intervention was a political move. He disputes the charge that the bank had liquidity problems. > **[Chávez targets TV news station](https://www.ft.com/content/c8a96b3c-94f7-11df-af3b-00144feab49a)** > [@](#): > > President Hugo Chávez will impose a state representative on the board of directors of Globovision, stepping up his attack on the 24-hour Venezuelan news channel that is fiercely critical of his government. [http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/15/venezuela.media.probe/#fbid=xSDEAzx\_HLa&wom=false](http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/15/venezuela.media.probe/#fbid=xSDEAzx_HLa&wom=false) > [@](#): > > The color photograph, which ran on the front page of El Nacional on Friday, showed about a dozen bodies, mostly naked, sprawled on tables at a morgue in Caracas. It ran alongside a story about violence. > > Government prosecutors have said they will investigate the newspaper to determine whether it broke any laws by publishing the image. How safe it is in Venezuela: > [@](#): > > Venezuela has moved the women’s baseball World Cup from a Caracas military base after a Hong Kong player was hit by a bullet during a game. > [@](#): > > Venezuelan authorities have not officially released figures on violent crimes at least since 2006 ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/10 "2010-08-19T20:05:31Z")
> [@erez](#): > > There is a very good editoral in the Washington Post about Venezuela and Chavez: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081205675.html?wpisrc=nl\_opinions](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/12/AR2010081205675.html?wpisrc=nl_opinions) > > > [@](#): > > > > Over the past couple of years, captured documents and other evidence have established beyond any reasonable doubt that Mr. Chávez’s regime has provided haven and material support to the FARC movement in neighboring Colombia – a group that is known for massacres of civilians, hostage taking and drug trafficking, and that has been designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department and the European Union. > > Here is what the veteran diplomat nominated by the Obama administration as its next ambassador to Venezuela said: > > > [@](#): > > > > He said that he was “keenly aware of the clear ties between members of the Venezuelan government and Colombian guerrillas.” He said that he was “concerned” that two individuals designated as international drug traffickers by the Treasury Department “are high-ranking officials of the Venezuelan government.” He reported “growing Cuban-Venezuelan cooperation in the fields of intelligence services and the military” and “morale and equipment problems” in the Venezuelan army. > [@erez](#): > > Here are some very recent headlines from Venezuela illustrating growing suppression of the freedom of speech by the government: > > [http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/world/americas/12venez.html](http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/12/world/americas/12venez.html) > > > [@](#): > > > > A former Venezuelan Army general who denounced the growing involvement of Cuban troops in President Hugo Chávez’s military appeared before prosecutors on Wednesday to respond to accusations that he had insulted the armed forces and revealed military secrets. > > [http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/13/1775498/judge-jailed-in-venezuela-hopes.html](http://www.miamiherald.com/2010/08/13/1775498/judge-jailed-in-venezuela-hopes.html) > [http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100810-711338.html](http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100810-711338.html) > [Subscribe to read](http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c8a96b3c-94f7-11df-af3b-00144feab49a,s01=1.html) > [http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/15/venezuela.media.probe/#fbid=xSDEAzx\_HLa&wom=false](http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/08/15/venezuela.media.probe/#fbid=xSDEAzx_HLa&wom=false) > How safe it is in Venezuela: > > > [@](#): > > > > Venezuelan authorities have not officially released figures on violent crimes at least since 2006 Cherry picking mainstream media for argument against Chavez/Castro, etc, does not an indictment make. What about OUR FRIEND Uribe’s drug running history? [brief hijack]Or Karzai’s?[/brief hijack] ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/11 "2010-08-19T21:11:38Z")
:eek: Jeez, is there any political faction in that part of the world, left or right, that **isn’t** involved in drug trafficking?! ---
**Author:** ![XT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/xt/32/456_2.png) [@XT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/XT)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/12 "2010-08-19T21:53:00Z")
[QUOTE=adhay] Cherry picking mainstream media for argument against Chavez/Castro, etc, does not an indictment make. [/QUOTE] As opposed to the whack-a-do sites you generally use, right? 😛 -XT ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/13 "2010-08-19T22:02:41Z")
> [@xtisme](#): > > [QUOTE=adhay] > Cherry picking mainstream media for argument against Chavez/Castro, etc, does not an indictment make. As opposed to the whack-a-do sites you generally use, right? 😛 -XT [/QUOTE] Whack-a-do? I’m tempted report your post.🆒 ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 19, 2010, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/14 "2010-08-19T22:06:50Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: Jeez, is there any political faction in that part of the world, left or right, that **isn’t** involved in drug trafficking?! In my own small way, I contribute. ETA I don’t inhale. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/15 "2010-08-22T02:04:19Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > > :eek: Jeez, is there any political faction in that part of the world, left or right, that **isn’t** involved in drug trafficking?! > > In my own small way, I contribute. > > ETA I don’t inhale. I did once but never again. STG. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/16 "2010-08-22T02:33:04Z")
> [@adhay](#): > > > [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > > > Oh goody, another chance for a 21st century version of the War of the Triple Alliance. > > With, I assume, the USA carrying the British Torch of Empire. Drug running was always big for the Brits. The War of the Triple Alliance had almost nothing to do with the Brits. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/17 "2010-08-22T02:37:45Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > > [@adhay](#): > > > > With, I assume, the USA carrying the British Torch of Empire. Drug running was always big for the Brits. > > The War of the Triple Alliance had almost nothing to do with the Brits. There were a few palmprints. Almost? Nearly, I say. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/18 "2010-08-22T02:56:22Z")
> [@BrainGlutton](#): > > :eek: Jeez, is there any political faction in that part of the world, left or right, that **isn’t** involved in drug trafficking?! Well, in Colombia, it’s pretty hard to move up politically without some kind of involvement, passive or otherwise. It’s kind of like dealing with corporate lobbyists in the U.S. ---
**Author:** ![adhay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@adhay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/adhay)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/19 "2010-08-22T03:41:46Z")
> [@guizot](#): > > > [@BrainGlutton](#): > > > > :eek: Jeez, is there any political faction in that part of the world, left or right, that **isn’t** involved in drug trafficking?! > > Well, in Colombia, it’s pretty hard to move up politically without some kind of involvement, passive or otherwise. It’s kind of like dealing with corporate lobbyists in the U.S. I venture it’s exactly like. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2010, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755/20 "2010-08-22T11:51:27Z")
> [@](#): > > There were a few palmprints. Almost? Nearly, I say. Revisionism. Some folks just don’t want to take responsibility for what they did. > [@](#): > > But historiography is ever-changing: during the 1960s and 1970s, many historians claimed that the War of the Triple Alliance was caused by pseudo-colonial influence of the British [9][10], who were in need of a new source of cotton due to the Civil War in the United States. [6] However, this claim is inconsistent with the results of other historical research [11]; the claim of British influences has been disputed by several works of history that have been published since 1990.[11] From [Paraguayan War - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_the_Triple_Alliance) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/venezuela-cuts-ties-with-colombia/547755.md?page=2)