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CARACAS,Venezuela-Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez portrayed himself as a man of peace Wednesday, even as he moved tanks and soldiers to the Colombian border in a growing crisis set off by Colombia's weekend attack on leftist rebels hiding in Ecuadorean territory.Most of the 9,000 soldiers mobilized by Chavez have reached the border area and are "ready to defend the sacred sovereignty of the homeland" if necessary against Colombia's U.S.-supported military, the defense minister said.Ecuador said it sent 3,200 soldiers to its border with Colombia on Monday.Chavez blamed the crisis on the U.S. "empire and its lackeys"-Colombia's conservative government-saying they pose a constant threat of war in the region."We are peace.We are the path to peace," the leftist leader said in a televised speech. Colombia's raid, he said, was a "war crime."Chavez and his ally, Ecuador's President Rafael Correa,(picture left) have been seeking international condemnation of Colombia for the commando raid on Ecuadorean soil that killed a key Colombian rebel leader and 22 other guerrillas Saturday.They scored a victory of sorts Wednesday in Washington, where the Organization of American States approved a watered-down resolution declaring the attack a violation of Ecuador's sovereignty. The resolution also called for OAS Secretary-General Jose Miguel Insulza to lead a delegation to both countries to ease tensions, but stopped short of explicitly condemning the assault.[[[After meeting Wednesday night, Chavez and Correa said they welcomed the resolution but still want an explicit condemnation."The OAS resolution pleases us. We are pleased, but not satisfied," Correa said, standing beside Chavez. "This isn't going to cool down until the agressor is condemned."The United States was the only OAS nation offering Colombia unqualified support. Many other countries worried openly about the attack inside Ecuador, which along with Venezuela has been accused by Colombian officials of providing refuge to leftist Colombian guerrillas.Correa called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a liar who "wanted war," and warned that if the attack goes unpunished, "the region will be in danger, because the next victim could be Peru, it could be Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, any one of our countries."]]]Uribe, whose decision to attack the rebel camp reflected his frustration over the ability of guerrillas to find refuge across poorly patrolled jungle borders, said he would not mobilize troops or allow his nation to be drawn into war with his neighbors.Ecuador's security minister, Gustavo Larrea, conceded that problem.The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, had promised not to operate inside Ecuador, and the attack showed the rebels "did not keep their promise," he told The Associated Press.The attack killed Raul Reyes, the public face of the FARC. Uribe told journalists Wednesday night that it was the sixth military raid on Reyes during his five-year term.The raid also enabled Colombian commandos to recover Reyes' laptop, full of documents that indicate FARC political ties to both Chavez and Correa.In Washington, a top U.S. diplomat said American experts would soon examine the computer's hard drive. "This is the first time that we've stumbled across something coming from the FARC drawing such a straight line" between the rebels and Chavez, Assistant Secretary of State Thomas A. Shannon said.Chavez laughed as he dismissed Colombian accusations that the laptop's documents show he gave $300 million to the FARC and conspired with the rebels to embarrass Colombia's government.Other documents released by Colombia suggest Reyes was secretly negotiating with representatives of France and other European nations to win freedom for hostages including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American defense contractors.Correa suggested Colombia launched the raid in part to sabotage efforts by Venezuela and Ecuador to persuade the rebels to release more hostages. But Larrea, who was among those negotiating with Reyes, told the AP it's possible the rebels still might release Betancourt. She is gravely ill, according to four hostages the FARC freed last week.French President Nicolas Sarkozy appealed directly to the rebels in an interview broadcast Wednesday night on Colombia's RCN television. He called Betancourt's freedom "a personal commitment" for him and "a national cause" for France, and said the FARC could persuade countries to no longer consider it a terror group if it frees her."If they let Ingrid Betancourt die, of course, there will be no discussion about that," he said in comments dubbed over in Spanish. "If they free Ingrid Betancourt, maybe some place in the world will see them a little differently."In the Venezuelan town of San Antonio on Wednesday, soldiers marched through sugarcane fields with assault rifles, watching children dressed in school uniforms splash their way across the river that separates the two countries.Despite a statement by Venezuelan Agriculture Minister Elias Jaua that imports and exports worth more than $5 billion a year were being shut down, the military said it had no orders to close the border.But Chavez said Wednesday night that trade between the two nations is "coming down.""We aren't interested in Colombian investments here," Chavez said. Colombia traditionally supplies food to Venezuela, but Chavez said that now, "we can't depend on them, not even for a grain of rice."
As in the days of Noah....
