a mInor event Down South

We almost had a war in South America this week.
What?

Yeah, a war. Although most of us never heard anything about it.

On March 1st, Colombian troops attacked a rebel force called the FARC and killed one of their commanders. The only problem was that this rebel force was in neighboring Ecuador, which regarded the raid as a violation of their sovereignty. Colombia reacted by accusing Ecuador of aiding the FARC, which has been trafficking drugs and kidnapping people for forty years. Venezuela backed Ecuador and soon their was a big mess.

Colombia is a right-wing, pro-United States country that has few friends in South America. Neighboring Venezuela and Ecuador are left-wing, almost to the point of being Communist. I am sure you have heard of Hugo Chavez, a dictator that has been compared to Castro, and has a very good relationship with the former ruler of Cuba.

Once this conflagration began, it only got worse. Ecuador and Venezuela ended diplomatic relations with Colombia, and began to move troops to the border. Colombia responding the same, by moving troops to their border. We were thisclose to having South America War I, and with the United States on Colombia's side, who knows how far it could have spread. We all know that wars have started for much less, such as the bullet in Franz Ferdinand's head or Helen of Troy.

Wait, but there isn't a war. Is there?

no. The leaders of the three countries agreed to meet in a summit in the Dominican Republic. The tensions were high, and accusations flew, but eventually they came to a compromise, Colombia agreeing to never again violate another's sovereignty, and the others agreed to take action against "irregular or criminal groups." Now everybody is happy, for a little while.

On a side note, Colombia delivered another blow to the FARC, when a member of the rebel group killed his commander and brought his severed hand to the authorities. With the death of two top members in less than a week the FARC is reeling from its losses.