Ecuador and Venezuela denounce a restart to Colombia's US-backed aerial fumigation campaign.

scotty says on Dec 22, 2006, 17:45:

isolate gee.. he sure wouldnt want to isolate Chavez. Chavez is such a sweet guy. who cares if Venezuela disagrees with Uribe.

Get Rhythm, when you got the blues. Johnny Cash

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juancegomez says on Dec 22, 2006, 19:39:

Actually...it's Correa who is doing most of the denouncing... ...of the restart to fumigation operations on Ecuador's border, but he says he's not against the "US-backed aerial fumigation campaign" as a whole elsewhere in Colombia, where it has never been stopped in the first place. He may not agree, but he sees that as an entirely valid move on Colombia's part, deep inside its own territory. An important difference.

Plus he's not really "recruiting" anybody, in non-rhetorical terms.

The only President that has openly supported Correa is Venezuela's, and Argentina's Kirchner (sp?) apparently gave him support too, but in a private, non-public manner (at least it hasn't been reported outside of Mr. Correa's mentioning it).

But when Chavez is merely saying "I support you and another way must be found", he's not really being a pro-active participant at this point. His language has been pretty diplomatic (bashing the "Empire" aside), by his usual standards, as Chavez is not really directly affected by the issue either. Much less the rest of the continent, rhetorics here and there aside.

Peru and Bolivia haven't really taken a stand on this particular issue either, so the article's grasping at straws. Plus, and this is the most tragicomical thing, they are still executing U.S.-backed (even if non-fumigation) eradication campaigns in their own countries, and still following the principles of a policy of Prohibition against narcotics, despite their defense of coca as a plant / its other uses.

So this isn't really a big break with Washington, yet. I don't really see this as a true sign of any regional "isolation" right now, much less of a real, substantial modification of current drug strategies. Just a disagreement over tactics.

Plus Shifter's bit about an "end [to] Ecuador's cooperation with the Colombian military" is almost funny, when practically no such cooperation has existed for a good while. In fact, long before this latest incident, Ecuador had already pulled away from any form of real cooperation or even coordination with Colombia's military efforts. That's all been reported in both nations' press for months, if not years.

It's just one man (and much of his people) rightfully complaining against a particularly counterproductive tactic that has collaterally hurt his country, while getting good press and applause elsewhere for doing it. Since I'm opposed to fumigations, I completely see his point.

But at most, this useless policy of chemical fumigations (which are harmful, very obviously so, though not necessarily lethal) will further alienate Ecuador from Colombia and vice versa, leading to legal actions such as the one Mr. Correa just announced in real life. As for the rest...it looks like they're not going to care much either way, outside of making verbal gestures here and there, probably in support of Correa but without really "standing behind him" in practice.

This may all change in the future, which is always in motion, but that's how things stand right now, from my perspective. The author of the article is reading too much into things too quickly, IMHO.

I'd want for things to change that much quicker too, but I'm not putting the cart before the horse.

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billyb says on Dec 23, 2006, 00:26:

Juance, whether it's usless or not.... why are Correa and Ecuador bitching, when Ecuador uses the same mixture to protect their banana crop. If it is that harmfull, they should stop using it themselves.

BillyB

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juancegomez says on Dec 23, 2006, 08:06:

billyb.... What I know thus far is limited, and would clearly be superseded by any truly comprehensive study done by experts on the subject (something that is currently still lacking, btw, as existing ones don't take all the specifics into account)...but it seems that while they might use the same basic chemical product, they are not using it in exactly the same manner at all.

It's not the same thing to drop it + other "additives" (say, one which makes it stick to the leaves) from the air, even if the "active ingredient" itself is the same, and to apply it directly on the ground without anything else.

That's far from simply equating fumigations with death, but they do not appear to be harmless either.

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vladimiro says on Dec 23, 2006, 11:19:

Ecuador "why are Correa and Ecuador bitching"

I would guess its because nationalist politics are always popular and even more so when directed against problamatic Colombia and its millions of refugees, endless civil wars, narcotics industry, etc.

"Plus Shifter's bit about an "end [to] Ecuador's cooperation with the Colombian military" is almost funny, when practically no such cooperation has existed for a good while."

I doubt the fumigations are helpful, though, if there are Colombians in the government or miilitary that are trying to work out agreements for cooperation with Ecuador against FARC in the border areas. I don't think there's much chance of defeating the guerilla without help from the neighboring countries that the FARC are operating from.

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juancegomez says on Dec 23, 2006, 11:51:

vladimiro Of course the fumigations don't help, I fully agree, but that continued to be the case even while the fumigations were recently suspended for almost a year.

More or less in line with what you've mentioned, if your neighbor's house is burning due to his own incompetence, for some people it's always easier to criticize him for it and for losing his cool than it is to help him put out the fire.

"It's not my house, he's a bad neighbor because he's making such a loud mess...and it's all his own fault. So why should I help him? Besides, the wreckage is spilling into my garden and I'm too busy cleaning it up. He deserves it."

So the fire continues burning and the others simply mind their own business...while they can.

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