Chavez swerves to save self

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has been called a populist, a Marxist and a Fidelista. But at some point in his turbulent career he must have taken to heart Ralph Waldo Emerson's dictum that 'a foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds.' At the least, Chavez made a sudden swerve when he confronted the leftist FARC guerrillas of Columbia, his former proteges. 'Guerrilla warfare has passed from history,' Chavez said. He told the FARC that it had become the 'perfect excuse' for the United States to 'threaten us all.' It remains to be seen whether the new FARC leader, Alfonso Cano, will heed Chavez's advice to release all its hostages 'in exchange for nothing.' It certainly would be a good thing for Colombia, Venezuela the rest of Latin America and the United States if the violent conflicts that have been tearing Colombia apart for 60 years were finally resolved in a peaceful manner. These conflicts originate in inequalities of class and race as well as the clashing interests of big landowners and the landless. In recent decades, the hostage-taking and murder by rightist paramilitaries and leftist guerrillas have been interwoven with the cocaine trade.