War with Colombia? An ex president speaks

Carlos Andres Perez is a Venezuelan ex president, the one against whom Chavez did his failed 1992 coup. The only thing worth remembering from that day is that Carlos Andres recovered from his initial stupor (and panic?) to prevail while Chavez was the lone military to fail his objectives, ruining the coup won elsewhere, and by the way hide at the Military Museum where he shat his pants. As life goes the stinky coward is now in Miraflores while the courageous character, the one who with all his defaults accepted to stand trial and accepted that serious institutions removed him from office for what today would be petty cash for chavismo corruption, is in exile in Miami, rumored to be out of it as his strokes do not seem to be healing.

Well, we might have been counting Carlos Andres out too soon as he gave the only reply worth posting to Chavez war games with Colombia. A war he cannot win but a war that distracts folks from the very real problems from Venezuela. Heck! Since when do Western Countries win wars without electricity, without water, with shitty roads, with fat generals and with the worst corruption in their hemisphere?

Carlos Andres Perez emitted a communique and I translated it below. Enjoy.

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In my capacity as former Head of State, I am forced to speak out about the "prepare for war" call made by President Hugo Chávez Frías to the Armed Forces, to the militia and the people in general.

Never in our history a president threatened war against a sister country. On the contrary we have preserved and valued the pride of being the country that has contributed the most to freedom and peace in our region.

The incendiary and irresponsible call of the president, which belittles that status, cannot be taken as mere bravado, and has but a single way to describe it: a crime against the country. Crime against the country's interests. The most serious crime that a head of state may commit.

The argument of the deployment of a few American military personnel in Colombia bases represent a danger to our country is right - because the access of advanced technological resources by Colombia represent a real threat.

But the threat is not for the Venezuelan people but to the regime of Mr Chavez whose cooperation with the FARC narco-terrorists is well known and that now would be limited or prevented.

Putting Venezuelans at risk in a military adventure whose sole purpose is to prevent the controlling of the activities of terrorists and drug traffic that flows through our country protected by the authorities is a crime against the country.

I allow myself to make a call to the armed forces to remind them that Article 328 of the Constitution states that they "constitute an essentially professional institution, without political orientation, and that in the duties they must fulfill is the exclusive service to the Nation and in no case the service to any person or political group. "

The Armed Forces have the obligation to define their position in what seems an imminent crime against the country by the head of state. It is time to know what your position is on such an adventure of incalculable risks for our people and our future.

The head of state has now been threatening and waging war for almost eleven years against the majority of our people. Until when?

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PS: translating this communique and publishing me puts me on record as someone that will not go to war against Colombia. If Colombia were to attack is a different matter but I would need proof of it since, courtesy to the FARC and even the ELN, Chavez could create a pretext to make it look like Colombia attacked. All is possible for crazed people that feel cornered by events: "If I am going to fall down I am taking along as many as I can with me".

In other words, unless proven that indeed the US and Colombia are preparing an invasion to Venezuela, which odds for me are about <0.01% , I am in open refusal and thus a traitor by chavista canon. Not to mention that I am a pacifist, a conscience objector, and cannot justify any war unless overt aggression is clearly proved. And even then I would be unable to hold a gun and shoot, and would be of any use only at some hospital or such service.

Not that I believe that there will be any war (more on this later maybe) but I wanted to set the record straight, that I agree that Chavez is betraying the nation's interest and just for that threat deserves impeachment and jail. The words of Carlos Andres just confirmed what I was thinking for a while.

-The end-