The FARC Farce: Starring Hugo Chavez, Directed by Oliver Stone
I am from Colombia and I am truly surprised by the ignorance of the positive effect American aid has had on Colombia. For the past two decades and in part a result of US aid, Colombia has effectively combated two U.S.-designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations (the FARC and the ELN – two groups that kidnap and murder civilians and attack the country’s infrastructure) and also dismantled a third – the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). Since Uribe won the Colombian presidency, terrorist attacks in Colombia decreased by 63% and kidnappings by 78%. For the first time in recent history, the Colombian government has a presence in all of its municipalities. Rather than rail against progress in Colombia, we should support it.
Oiver Stone’s assertion in other interviews about Hugo Chavez being a man of law and a good leader are not only ignorant, but also absurd. Chavez has curtailed freedom of speech and eliminated the judiciary’s independence in Venuzuela. While Colombia has a strong economy growing at 6% and unemployment in the single digits, Venuzuela now has the hemisphere’s highest inflation rate and due to Chavez’s imposed price controls, the country has food shortages on even the most basic foods such as milk, meat, and sugar. Caracas, Venezulas’s capital, is now filled with crime – even garbage goes uncollected! If Chavez is the type of leader Oliver Stone wants, then maybe he should leave his cozy little mansion in th US and move to caracas.
