Well, in any case, Colombia and Venezuela appear to have smoothed things over, for the moment:
Venezuela and Colombia restored full diplomatic relations[11][12] on 10 August 2010, after a meeting between recently inaugurated President of Colombia Juan Manuel Santos and President of Venezuela Hugo Chávez held in Santa Marta, Colombia,[13] on a mediation by UNASUR Secretary General Néstor Kirchner.[14][15]
Santos said he received assurances from Chávez that he would not allow guerrilla groups to set up camp inside Venezuela. The two also expressed optimism that their first meeting would produce positive results.[12] The agreement included the setting up of bilateral commissions related to commercial, economic, social investment, infrastructure and security issues.[16][17] The agreement stated the objective of enduring stable bilateral relations through adherence to international law, the principles of noninterference in internal affairs, and respect for national sovereignty and territorial integrity.[18] Venezuela admitted that Colombia can sign military agreements even with the United States, “as long as none of those accords affects the sovereignty of neighbours or becomes a threat”.[19]
Santos was upbeat regarding the meeting. “President Chávez and I are putting the interests of our people above personal conveniences,” he was reported as saying. In his turn Chavez told Santos, “Count on my friendship.” The two presidents pledged to send ambassadors to each others’ capital cities, and work on further details involving finance and military issues.[11] A large factor in the reconciliation was collapsing trade between the neighboring countries’ economies. The New York Times also cited a former U.S. ambassador to Colombia saying that both men were likely to be in power in their nations for much of the coming decade, “so it would be in both of their interests to learn to get along.”[11]
erez
August 23, 2010, 6:51am
22
Right, it does suck when someone actually provides multiple, well-respected, and credible sources, instead of some far-left blogger’s post like **adhay **likes to do to make an argument. Nobody likes that.
Here are some quotes from another cherry-picked article from mainstream media (don’t let the fact that it is on the front page on the NY Times right now fool you, I must have cherry-picked it) “Venezuela, More Deadly Than Iraq, Wonders Why”:
Caracas itself is almost unrivaled among large cities in the Americas for its homicide rate, which currently stands at around 200 per 100,000 inhabitants, according to Roberto Briceño-León (…)
That compares with recent measures of 22.7 per 100,000 people in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital (…)
The judicial system has grown increasingly politicized, losing independent judges and aligning itself more closely with Mr. Chávez’s political movement. Many experienced state employees have had to leave public service, or even the country.
More than 90 percent of murders go unsolved, without a single arrest
Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda, a state encompassing parts of Caracas, told reporters last week that Mr. Chávez had worsened the homicide problem by cutting money for state and city governments led by political opponents and then removing thousands of guns from their police forces after losing regional elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/americas/23venez.html?_r=1&hp
Ale
August 23, 2010, 7:43am
23
erez:
Right, it does suck when someone actually provides multiple, well-respected, and credible sources, instead of some far-left blogger’s post like **adhay **likes to do to make an argument. Nobody likes that.
Here are some quotes from another cherry-picked article from mainstream media (don’t let the fact that it is on the front page on the NY Times right now fool you, I must have cherry-picked it) “Venezuela, More Deadly Than Iraq, Wonders Why”:
Henrique Capriles, the governor of Miranda, a state encompassing parts of Caracas, told reporters last week that Mr. Chávez had worsened the homicide problem by cutting money for state and city governments led by political opponents and then removing thousands of guns from their police forces after losing regional elections.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/23/world/americas/23venez.html?_r=1&hp
For what is worth, I was talking with a friend last week, he had to travel to Venezuela and Caracas recently, he told me the car driver wouldn’t stop at red lights for fear of being robbed, assaulted or Og knows what else.