Let diplomacy prevail

Let diplomacy prevail

Dallas Morning News: Venezuela has amassed troops on its border with Colombia in response to a Colombian military attack on guerrillas just across its border with Ecuador. It would seem that a Colombia-Ecuador border incursion would be none of Venezuela’s business, but with Hugo Chavez at the helm in Caracas, everything seems to be cause for confrontation.

Chavez has repeatedly taunted his counterpart in Bogota, President Alvaro Uribe, over Colombia’s close ties to Washington. And he has become increasingly brazen in supporting the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which uses profits from drug trafficking to fund its 44-year-old guerrilla war.

Saturday’s attack by Colombian forces killed the No. 3 FARC commander, Raul Reyes. Colombia also claims it captured documents showing that Venezuela funneled $300 million in aid to the FARC.

Diplomatic protest

Ecuador filed a diplomatic protest and called for an emergency meeting of the Organization of American States. Chavez, meanwhile, has warned Colombia that he will use fighter jets if his border is violated.

President Bush also has jumped into the fray, declaring that U.S. national security could be at risk. He says it is crucial for Congress to approve the Colombia Free-Trade Agreement to counterbalance Chavez. Defeat of the accord, Bush suggests, would embolden Chavez and his FARC allies. Venezuela’s military deployment, he says, is “provocative.”

Yes, the free-trade accord is important for Colombia’s stability and efforts to rebuild after decades of fighting insurgents and drug lords. America has invested more than $5 billion to help Colombia since 2000, and we’d be wise to build on that investment through free trade.

But it’s unnecessarily provocative to portray a trade deal as a U.S. national security concern. All sides need to halt the bluster immediately.

The U.S. and Soviet-fueled violence that engulfed El Salvador, Nicaragua and Honduras only two decades ago should be reminder enough of the disaster that ensues when the rattling of sabers drowns out the language of diplomacy.