South America Hostility
by Bob Barr
Issue 105 - April 9, 2008

Iraq and Afghanistan continue to enjoy top billing in America's newspapers and on our television news programs. With untold billions of dollars flowing regularly into that part of the world and American soldiers continuing to be killed there, it's no surprise our government and our media pay close attention. South America remains an afterthought for government policy-makers and news-show producers. Whether we like it or not, that may soon change, as well it should.

Military tensions between Venezuela and Colombia, for example, flared to a new and dangerous level when Venezuelan president and strongman Hugo Chavez massed armed forces at his country's border with Colombia and threatened military action. This saber rattling, Chavez said, was in response to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe ordering a small military force into its western neighbor, Ecuador, to track down and kill a Colombian guerrilla leader operating from what had been the safe haven of a neighboring country (and who reportedly maintained contacts with Chavez).

While the outward signs of hostility have cooled (the two leaders exchanged a formalistic handshake at a recent meeting), such disruptions in this part of the world —- where the United States maintains significant, if often forgotten, interests —- ought to concern all Americans (especially those who drive cars).

Although the publicly stated reasons for the tensions between the Colombian and Venezuelan leaders relate to Colombia's efforts to eradicate the leftist guerrilla threat that has plagued the country for decades, most observers know it is Colombia's openly pro-U.S. stance that really rankles Chavez. The entire South American continent has long chafed under the benign neglect of one U.S. administration after another. Chavez has proven quite adept at drawing on that deep resentment to bolster his own position. His ability to wield influence in this manner, of course, is strengthened greatly by virtue of the fact that Venezuela sits atop major oil reserves and provides nearly 13 percent of our country's daily oil imports (more than three times the amount of oil we import from Iraq).

Economic realities such as this should cause the United States to pay closer attention not only to Venezuela and other Andean countries such as Peru, Bolivia and Chile, but to the entire South American continent, which collectively is a massive trading partner for the United States. Not only oil, but huge quantities of raw materials and consumer products (coffee, for example) are offloaded daily at U.S. seaports and airports from ships and planes arriving from South America. American taxpayers, too, have a stake in what happens in this region. Billions in foreign aid flow into the region. On the darker side of the trade ledger, cocaine, marijuana and heroin from South and Central America fuel the appetites of drug users in American cities.

Former congressman and U.S. Attorney Bob Barr practices law in Atlanta. To read more of this article and others, please visit www.bobbarr.org