By Michael Rowan
Special for El Universal

It was outrageous when early in his presidency Chavez declared Venezuela to be neutral in Colombia's war against the narco-terrorists called the FARC, but what Chavez is doing now is beyond outrageous. FARC has been a misnomer for decades. It is not a revolutionary armed force but a mafia that extorts $200 million a year from trafficking in weapons, kidnapping, murder, terror and cocaine. The FARC is more cynical than its predecessors, the Medellin and Cali drug cartels, by pretending to the world it is a fighting a war for socialism, and few Colombians trust it anymore. But one person who trusts the FARC is the Commander in Chief of Venezuela, its army of 84,000, its reserves that may number one million, its 100,000 new Kalashnikov assault rifles, and its $5 billion in Russian and Chinese military toys.

Just as he denied for years he was a Communist and then finally admitted it, Chavez denied for years he was a FARCista and last month finally acknowledged it. For years he denied that the FARC has safe havens in Venezuela, that the FARC travels with Venezuelan passports all around the world, that the FARC is running Venezuela's illegal drugs and arms trade, or that the FARC are complicit with Venezuela's military and Chavez's political allies in the biggest organized crime syndicate in the hemisphere. Yet as evidence to the contrary piled up to match the size of the Avila mountaintops, Chavez pretended that his effort to save two hostages out of 800 held for ransom by the FARC was proof that President Alvaro Uribe was a warmongering criminal while the FARC was not a terrorist group but a legitimate representative of peace and progress for Colombia. That is an effective declaration of war which Colombia, knowing the childish tantrum which generated it, diplomatically decided to ignore - for now.

Soldiers, who have their fingers on the triggers of war, take heed. Chavez is rattling the sabers with the country that provides Venezuela its food, which is backed by the country that buys Venezuela's oil. Both are prepared to route Chavez's defense of friendly cocaine dealers, kidnappers and terrorists. If Chavez orders the suicidal attack, his military would be well advised to disobey with dignity, honor and patriotism, as they did on April 11, 2002.

michaelrowan22@gmail.com