Easy! Easy on the crisis!

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As hours pass by, Colombia crisis with Venezuela and Ecuador gets worse and the initial good sense by Colombian government is turning into a rowdy spirit which does nothing to its solution.

Colombia has made a lot of progresses on "Democratic Security" but goes back in diplomacy. The rush in obtaining military triumphs at any price has left behind Colombia’s civilian tradition, respectful on the international law, which inaugurated in the modern era when it kept its position unalterable when it granted asylum to Peruvian president Víctor Raúl Haya de la Torre.

Who invades the territory of a Venezuelan ally in the middle of a crisis with Caracas? Even worse in such a historical moment when the relations with South American countries should be carried out quite carefully. The governments of the area are leaded by radical and moderate socialists, very distant from Uribe’s ideology and its close alliance with the United States. So it’s understandable that they had left Colombia alone in this conflict.

Chávez has a so-called Bolivarian project and Colombia is an obstacle for his expansionism. With FARC guerrillas making backward movements, the Venezuelan president needed an excuse for making a military threat to Colombia. A simple border incident was enough, but he never thought that such a clumsy, rude aggression from Colombia would give him that chance.

Did someone actually think about this at the Casa de Nariño? In these cases, when soldiers are looking for the taste of victory, the political advisers should be working. The political costs of such a large-scale operation like this one should be calculated and it should be decided if it is worth to take the risk, in favour of a bigger result. If the guerrilla camp had been located, if Raúl Reyes was there, the Ecuadorian government had to be alerted for it to take the corresponding measures.

No matter the results (the capture of Reyes or not), the Colombian government would have show the existence of that guerrilla in Ecuadorian territory up in front of the international community, and depending on the promptness of its government, denounce Ecuador’s softness or its support of the rebels or, on the contrary, to celebrate its collaboration. That would be a big diplomatic victory and an ever bigger isolation of FARC.

Rafael Correa is not Chávez and, if it turns his alleged sympathy toward FARC’s cause true, Colombia would y de ser cierta su simpatía por la causa de las FARC, Colombia would have him against the wall and, for sure, neutralize him. But it preferred to pass over him, to violate its territorial sovereignty, to get a military victory and to pay a disproportionately high political cost which makes Colombia to appear as the aggressor, despite the fairness of its fight.

Besides the United States, a systematic violator of the international law, no one else has supported Colombia. On the contrary, the countries which have made pronouncements have rejected in unison Colombia’s violation of international law. Even Alan García, the only ally of Colombia in South America, rejects Colombia’s aggression to Ecuador too.

We are alone, with the bundle of American support and to top it all, it is really stunning, in the bad sense, to see in this critical moment how the Colombian Foreign Minister became a shadow of the current events, leaving the delicate issue of foreign policy to the inappropriate statements made by the military, as our diplomatic delegations ignore the issue, showing their incompetence.

While Correa starts an international tour to explain the facts that lead him to break off relations with Colombia, Uribe limits to phone calls and ordering his ambassadors, most of them nominated as payment for political favours, to defend their country. And for make things worse, threatens to charge Chávez to the International Criminal Court, taking the relations to a point of no return.

Everything should be done with sense of timing. Foreign policy should be played with cold heart, using experts. If you have the advantage of an emotional, big-mouth opponent, you should take advantage of it. You have to favour his wear and then, when it’s weak, to corner him and beat him. This is not about who makes the biggest threat, but who plays better and, to start, you should avoid fighting in several fronts.

But the incompetence of Colombian government is amazing. Instead of lowering the temperature of the relationship with Correa, it responds by accusing him of supporting FARC. It can be true, but everything should be done at its right time. It should have to neutralize him, to bear his fair anger, contact mediators, build dialogue bridges. Later, with waters calm, to try rapprochements to fix the relations.

Instead of this, diplomacy is abandoned, turning to accusations which fuel the fire and unite even more our two opponents. Easy, mister president. This is the time of the politicians, not the fighters. There are a lot of implications, so considerable that if this snow ball is allowed to grow, it will turn at the end that a victory against FARC becomes a defeat for Colombia.

Let the common sense in, to avoid that, after his death, the small guy grows up.

This article was originally published 4 March 2008 in equinoXio. Translated from Spanish by Carlos Raúl van der Weyden Velásquez

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