WHERE THE FARC GOES TO FATTEN UP

Dramatic Evidence Presented By Colombia At Last Thursday's Oas Meeting In
Washington Puts Hugo ChaVez On The Hot Seat.

When Colombia launched a strike in March 2008 against a terrorist camp
just over its border with Ecuador, the loudest protestation came not
from Quito but from Caracas.

Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez mourned the death of Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) commander Raul Reyes, whom he called
"a good revolutionary." He also shrieked about the violation of
Ecuadoran sovereignty and called for 10 Venezuelan tank battalions to
be sent to his country's Colombian border. "Don't think about doing
that over here," he warned Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, "because
it would be very serious, it would be cause for war."

On Thursday, Colombia explained-albeit indirectly-why Mr. Chavez got
in such a lather over that 2008 raid. In a two-hour presentation
before the permanent council at the Organization of American States,
Colombian OAS ambassador Luis Alfonso Hoyos laid out a series of
photos, videos, maps, satellite images and computer documents that
Colombia claims show the rebels using Venezuela as a safe haven much
the same way they were using Ecuador.

Mr. Hoyos also charged that Venezuela knows about the guerrilla
camps-some of which have been there for a long time-and has done
nothing about them. Indeed, the Venezuelan National Guard sometimes
consorts with the rebels, Mr. Hoyos said.

Given this new information, Mr. Chavez's reaction to Colombia's 2008
incursion into Ecuador now looks logical. Bogota justified that raid
on the grounds that its appeals to Quito to go after FARC taking rest
and relaxation in its territory had gone nowhere. Now we know that Mr.
Chavez had reason to believe he would be next.

But Mr. Uribe launched a different sort of offensive on Thursday.
Instead of a military operation, he bundled new intelligence on the
FARC's Venezuelan outposts and dropped it like a bomb on the OAS
permanent council.

The facts were no surprise. For years, Bogota has been
complaining-with no shortage of proof-about the friendly treatment
Venezuela gives the guerrillas. But by packaging and delivering the
new evidence as he did, Mr. Uribe put Mr. Chavez, very publicly, on
the spot. More importantly, he has forced the issue with his
hemispheric counterparts.

Mr. Hoyos told the OAS that there are some 1,500 rebels across the border
in more than 75 camps. There they regroup, organize, train and prepare
explosives. This safe-haven status, he explained, produces more kidnapping
and drug trafficking on both sides of the border. And more carnage in
Colombia: Graphic photos of rebel victims flashed on a screen while he spoke.

Mr. Hoyos did not call for sanctions against Venezuela. Instead he
asked for an international commission to verify Colombia's claims. He
promised that his government could provide the "precise coordinates"
of farms and haciendas where the rebels are ensconced. "If what is
there is only a little school and humble peasants, there would be no
problem with an international commission to verify if Colombia's
accusation is not true," Mr. Hoyos argued.

That sounds reasonable enough. But the OAS meeting was not even over
when Mr. Chavez, unable to contain his frustration at being
embarrassed again in the political arena by Mr. Uribe, broke
diplomatic relations with Colombia. It was, he explained, the right
thing to do for "dignity." Sadly for Venezuelans, though, any dignity
their government may have once possessed checked out a long time ago.
Colombia's data dump was just the latest humiliation that Mr. Chavez's
credibility has suffered on the world stage.

Yet despite what seemed like great chavista umbrage, it's likely
Venezuela and its allies around the region saw it all coming. On
Wednesday, Ecuador's OAS ambassador, who was holding the rotating
presidency of the permanent council, resigned. He said he had to
because he was not able to deliver on his government's request to
block Colombia's presentation. Ecuadoran foreign minister Ricardo
Patino, a close ally of Venezuela who is apparently wholly unfamiliar
with the notion of institutional rules, spent Friday chastising OAS
Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza for allowing Colombia to invoke
its OAS right to make its case.

The U.S. State Department said Mr. Chavez's decision to break with
Colombia was petulant and happily it also said that it would "endorse
Colombia's proposals." This will help the chances for a verification
committee at the OAS. It also explains why Ecuador and Argentina have
both expressed interest in taking the matter to the South American
multilateral forum known as Unasur, where Mr. Uribe will be
outnumbered by leftist tyrants.

Even if the OAS verification committee does not come to fruition,
Colombia is not without options. It could ask the U.N. Security
Council to invoke Resolution 1373, which prohibits members from
harboring or helping terrorists. And last week Colombia's attorney
general suggested the matter could go to the Hague's International
Criminal Court.

The pro-Chavez crowd is now feigning concern about war. But if
Venezuela is giving the FARC safe haven, it is already engaged in
aggression against its neighbor. That's an inconvenient truth that is
hard to dodge.