Patrick J. O'Donoghue's round-up of news from Venezuela

Delegates attending the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) foundational congress have approved a declaration of principles and political program. Promotion committee member, Dario Vivas says all the aspirations, hopes and dreams of building a really revolutionary party to support the Bolivarian process are contained in the declaration of principles, which consists of eight pages outlining 10 fundamental aspects of the new party. The party has been declared anti-capitalist, anti-imperialist, Socialist, Bolivarian, and committed to the interests of the working class and the people. On Sunday, March 10, elections will take place to choose the national leadership.

Attending the closing of the foundational congress on Sunday in Maracaibo, President Chavez calls the PSUV the great party of the revolution and says it should be involved in tasks of building the nation alongside the national government and becoming a unifying force of the left in Latin America. The President asked the assembly of delegates to give him permission as president of the party to create a General Staff, consisting of vice-presidents. The petition was accepted by acclamation and unanimously and the first vice-president appointed was General (ret.) Alberto Muller Rojas. It has been learned that 69 members have been put forward as candidates to the national leadership. The President insists that the morale of the party, quality and political inefficiency must make it a really revolutionary party.

The Colombian government is preparing the defense of its incursion into Ecuadorian territory before the United Nations and the Organization of American States (OAS) stating that it will present evidence of alleged agreements between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which it calls a terrorist group, and the governments of Ecuador and Venezuela. Portraying Colombia as a peace-loving country, the Colombian government insists it will not order any troop movements in border areas because its only interest is to recover internal public order. The Colombian government's accusation centers on both governments' support of an internationally repudiated terrorist organization. Colombia accuses both countries of violating international norms by allowing terrorist organizations to establish themselves in their countries. The government adds that it has computer material seized during the raid and killing of FARC number two, Raul Reyes.

South American governments are reacting today to the military and political impasse between Ecuador and Colombia and between that latter country and Venezuela:

Peruvian President Alan Garcia has called for an urgent meeting of the Organization of American States, declaring that it is unacceptable that Colombia invaded Ecuadorian territory and calls for an apology. However, his main concern seems to centre on the Colombian government's denunciation of links between the FARC and the Ecuadorian government.

Brazil has announced that it will pull out all the stops to help reduce tension between Colombia and neighboring countries involved in the conflict. An adviser to President Lula Da Silva says the President will speak to his Argentinean counterpart, Christina Kirchner this afternoon and it would appear that Chile is also interested in taking part in the diplomatic initiative. According to sources, Brazil wants to bring the focus back to the humanitarian agreement to free hostages held by the FARC and help bring peace in Colombia. However, the same spokesperson adds that Brazil's principle of non-interference with its neighbors does not mean indifference.

Venezuela is expected to highlight the fact that Reyes was a key figure in organizing the humanitarian agreement and raise doubts about the use of US military advisers in electronically detecting the whereabouts of key FARC figures for military purposes during the whole humanitarian agreement process lasting several months. Some analysts suggest that the US and Colombia have used the agreement to home in on so-called chatter involving internal FARC commanders between the FARC, the Red Cross and the Venezuelan government to mount a military operation against Reyes and other rebels.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
patrick.vheadline@gmail.com