Another Trouble Spot
Venezuala's Hugo Chavez has been making several tours in recent months spreading his oil money among various countries in an effort to gain influence and support for his campaign against the "evil empire" of America.
But Chavez's desire to gain a seat on the United Nation's Security Council seems to have been derailed. Yesterday's vote in the U.N. shows there is not enought support to give Venezuela a seat at this important table. Guatemala beat Venezuala by 109 votes to 76 in the first round of voting by the General Assembly.
While this may be a personal political setback for Chavez don't look for his efforts to stir trouble for America and the West to end. He still has plenty of money and desire to be a thorn in our side. Frank Gaffney has a good summation of the threat for America from Latin America in this column.
Gaffney sums up the southern threat like this:
America's preoccupation with the crises du jour - the rising terrorist menace to the liberation of Iraq, the Iranian regime's determination to acquire the means to act on its genocidal threats against Israel and the United States and, most recently, North Korea's nuclear coming-out party - has left Washington ill-prepared to deal with one of tomorrow's major security challenges: the rise of the radical anti-American left in Latin America.
His article is a good summation of this important but often overlooked region.
