VENEZUELA
AS MEDIATOR:
THE ROLE OF PRESIDENT CHAVEZ
IN COLOMBIA’S HUMANITARIAN ACCORD
Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez explains his political vision as inspired by the 19th Century
independence leader, Simon Bolivar, who worked to unite the South American
continent. Chavez has always pushed for
that same unity, but in a modern context that emphasizes the commonalities
between nations as much as the right to sovereignty of each one. Currently, Venezuela
is taking international cooperation to another level by offering active support
for the peace process in neighboring Colombia, where an armed conflict
has lasted for decades.
In September 2007, President Chavez was invited by
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe (pictured at left) to serve as the sole negotiator
in a hostage-for-prisoner swap between the government and guerrilla
rebels. The invitation came at the
suggestion of Piedad Córdoba, the Colombian opposition Senator tapped to
facilitate the negotiations. Talks began
promisingly, with sustained communication between President Chavez, the
guerrilla leadership, Colombian state representatives, and leaders of other
countries in solidarity abroad. Chavez
and Uribe have met several times to discuss the negotiations, which are ongoing
and aimed expressly at reaching an accord that will release perhaps more than
45 civilian hostages as well as up to 500 guerrilla rebels who have been
imprisoned over the years.
A humanitarian effort, the
hostage negotiation being undertaken by Chavez is giving hope to a nation
fraught with civil conflict for decades, and lifting the spirits of the
families of hostage victims, including three North American families. US
military contractors Marc Gonsalves, Thomas Howes, and Keith Stansell were
kidnapped by the FARC in 2003 while working in Colombia. This report looks at bilateral relations
between Venezuela and Colombia,
President Chavez's role as negotiator in the current hostage-for-prisoner swap,
where the talks are headed, and what people are saying about them. Finally, it should be recognized that this
humanitarian undertaking serves as an inspiration both to those directly
affected by the protracted conflict in Colombia as much as to those people
all over the world who work to achieve peace within and across borders.
VENEZUELA AND COLOMBIA: A
HISTORY OF COOPERATION
Venezuela and Colombia
have long had good diplomatic relations.
Though they have been described as ideological opposites, Presidents
Chavez and Uribe have consistently collaborated on issues such as trade and
economic integration, border security, migration issues, and
combating drug trafficking
and terrorism. Political analyst Michael
Shifter of the Inter-American Dialogue has said that the two leaders "have
a surprisingly cordial relationship, with a record of cooperation on energy and
economic issues."[1] In light of this history of cooperation, the
involvement of President Chavez in the peace process, a matter of utmost
importance to the Colombian state, is not surprising. Rather, it seems natural that Venezuela would
lend a hand.
BACKGROUND: THE CONFLICT IN COLOMBIA
Venezuela has historically been a very peaceful country. But while Venezuela
has gained a reputation for a high degree of democratic stability, across its
border to the West, Colombia
has been embroiled in violent political struggles for much of the last
century. Colombia had scarcely recovered
from a "thousand days' war" in the 19th Century when 20th
Century clashes began between the national government and its marginalized
opponents, leftist groups that saw no chance of achieving representation
through traditional politics.
In 2006 Colombian police
reported that 17,206 people had died violent deaths, a figure largely
attributable to clashes between armed groups and the country's drug trade, one
of the world's largest. The United Nations has calculated that the number of
people internally displaced – forced to leave their homes and communities – due
to violence associated with the conflict now numbers about 2.3 million.
The United States became involved in the conflict
when President Clinton signed an aid package called Plan Colombia in 2000, making Colombia the
third-largest recipient of military assistance in the world. Initially, the aid was channeled to
counter-narcotics operations. But in
2002, President Bush allowed Plan Colombia funds to be mobilized in
counter-terror efforts. With the
Colombian guerrillas now classified as "terrorists," the military had
a license to pursue its anti-insurgent warfare ceaselessly, and at the expense
of US taxpayers.
PRESIDENT CHAVEZ AS PEACE NEGOTIATOR
Now that the standoff
between armed actors has lasted for over forty years, the Colombian people are
demanding a solution. Peace processes
also have a long history in Colombia,
but have always proven unsuccessful.
Victims of Colombia's
conflict have placed their hopes in President Chavez to negotiate a deal that
will turn the tide of past failed peace efforts. Chavez was invited by President Uribe at the
behest of Senator Piedad Córdoba, whom he appointed to facilitate a
hostage-for-prisoner swap between the Colombian government and the guerrilla
group FARC. The negotiations propose
that 45 civilians held captive by the FARC would be freed in exchange for the
release of perhaps some 500 guerrilla affiliates being held in Colombian
jails. As chief negotiator, Chavez bears
the responsibility of striking a deal between two parties that have been locked
in a stalemate, unable to trust one another for decades.
President Chavez was chosen
to negotiate the humanitarian deal precisely because he has the confidence of
both the government and the guerrillas in Colombia. The three-times elected leader of Venezuela came
to office as an outsider candidate, and thus knows what it is like to struggle
in the margins of the political system, as the FARC have done.
Moreover, during his
presidency, Chavez gained credibility among leaders worldwide by overseeing a
successful democratic project that has reduced poverty and revolutionized the
representative capacity of the government since 1999. The constitution enacted that year, the first
year Chavez was in office, was penned by a constituent assembly comprised of
diverse civil society groups and approved in a national assembly that saw high
voter turnout. Many experts recognize Venezuela's
1999 Constitution as one of the most advanced in the world on the issue of
human rights, for it guarantees access to free healthcare and education for all
citizens.
President Chavez began the
humanitarian mediation in Colombia
with characteristic enthusiasm and self-assuredness. He invited the families of Colombian hostages
to Caracas to
suggest ways to solve the crisis. The
Venezuelan government had previously offered to help solve the Colombian
crisis, and on August 24, 2007, the Washington Post reported that “Chavez, who
has had cordial relations with Uribe despite ideological differences, has
offered another, surprising proposal aimed at brokering a deal.”[2]
On August 31, 2007, President Chavez met with
President Uribe in Colombia
to discuss the possible hostage swap.
Colombian Senator Piedad Córdoba (pictured at left with Nancy Pelosi,
Speaker of the House of Representatives) will be the only party besides Chavez
and guerrilla leaders who will be present at the talks. Córdoba met FARC leader Raul Reyes in
September of this year and brought a recorded message to Chavez agreeing to a
preliminary meeting in October.[3] Córdoba also traveled to Washington, DC
to draw attention to their cause in the US Congress.
When President Uribe refused
to grant the guerrillas a demilitarized zone in which to conduct the
negotiations, Chavez proposed hosting them in Venezuela. Preliminary talks between Chavez and the FARC
were scheduled to take place in Caracas on
October 8, 2007, but were pushed back to a later date when President Uribe
balked at the idea of allowing the FARC to leave Colombia. Uribe and Chavez are now set to discuss ways
to move forward with the initiative.
Uribe has cautiously expressed his faith in the process by saying,
"I hope the rebels free the hostages at President Chavez's request. But we will express all of our gratitude to
President Chavez … whether or not the effort proves successful."[4]
"THIS IS THE HIGHEST OUR HOPES HAVE EVER BEEN"
Washington Post columnist on
Latin American and Latino affairs Marcela Sanchez wrote that Chavez is perhaps
the individual best suited to negotiate the prisoner swap, for he has earned
the respect of all parties involved.
Sanchez, who has frequently been critical of the Venezuelan government,
said, "Chavez's involvement is the single most important element that
makes this attempt the most promising in recent memory."[5]
Support from international
organizations as well as governments in other parts of the world has been
forthcoming. United Nations High
Commander Antonio Guterres congratulated the Chavez administration on its
powerful bid for peace on October 3rd, during the 58th
session of the Executive Committee of the Office of the UN High Commission for
Refugees.[6] In 2004, the UN declared Colombia to be
in a state of humanitarian emergency, after calculating that some 2 million
people had been internally displaced by violence associated with the armed
conflict.
Brazilian President Lula da
Silva offered to help by lending the use of Brazilian territory to carry out
negotiations. A government
representative said, "Brazil
trusts President Chavez as a mediator of this conflict and has offered the
possibility, should it be necessary, of holding meetings on Brazilian
soil."[7] French President Nicholas Sarsozky has been
an enthusiastic supporter of Chavez's role in the negotiations, as well. French-born former Colombian presidential
candidate Ingrid Betancourt has been held captive by the FARC since 2002, and
is among the 45 high-profile hostages that Chavez is working to liberate. Chavez met with a French diplomat on October
4th to discuss the negotiations.
On October 6, 2007, the
National Latino Congreso of the United States
passed a resolution to support Venezuela's
humanitarian mediation in Colombia. Some 2,000 participating organizations signed
the agreement to "recognize this humanitarian effort led by Venezuela as the most important step in the
peaceful resolution of so many decades of war and all its destructive
consequences in its sister nation, Colombia." In fact, support in the US for Venezuela's
humanitarian efforts in Colombia
is growing. US
Ambassador to Colombia
has recognized the importance of the humanitarian mediation by Chavez, and sees
it as a positive development. William
Brownfield, former US
Ambassador to Venezuela and
current Ambassador to Colombia,
said "we welcome the efforts of anybody... to facilitate the
liberation of all the people kidnapped, including the US
citizens."[8]
In late September, 2007 during a meeting held in
Caracas between Chavez and the relatives of the three US citizens who are among
those being held hostage in Colombia (pictured here), Chavez appealed to Bush
for assistance in the negotiations by saying, "To President Bush:
hopefully you can help us."[9] Some political analysts have judged the
involvement of Chavez in the likely hostage swap as a threat to US dominance in
the region.[10] However, Venezuela is embracing the
opportunity to make the hostage negotiation an act of international solidarity
throughout the hemisphere and the world, an effort around which a cross-border
consensus can emerge.
Families of the US hostages to be released in Colombia if
negotiations by President Chavez succeed are not disheartened by a delay in the
talks. The relative of one of three US citizens who
are among those expected to be freed in the hostage-for-prisoner swap said,
"This is the highest our hopes have ever been…. The eyes of the world are
upon us."[11] Another affirmed that Chavez is providing
"a hope, a light that we haven't seen for a long time."[12]