Many thanks to your editorial staff, and to Mary Anastasia O'Grady in particular, for focusing attention on some ominous developments related to our Southern Hemisphere (Ms. O'Grady's Aug. 6 Americas column "The Real Uribe Record" and "The $800,000 Suitcase," Review & Outlook, Aug. 15).

As Ms. O'Grady's piece impeccably details, Colombia's President Uribe is under attack in our public forums, and by several of our leading legislators. Given the habitual indifference by our politicians to what goes on in Latin America, it's worth asking why Colombia should get this attention while America fights (and fights over) its war in Iraq, and while our presidential race is gearing up.

The answer, evidently, lies in the kind of dealing that was discovered in the cash-laden suitcase. Venezuela's President Chavez is using his country's oil-derived wealth to spread political influence around the hemisphere. And behind Mr. Chavez's extrovert presence lies the shadowy activity of the Castro regime. For years, Cuban security agents have been pulling the strings in Venezuela's governance; while Mr. Chavez has been funding Cuba's regime as well as its machinations across the continent.

For decades, Cuba has had Colombia in the forefront of its political designs, with Colombia a key target of its intelligence services. By the early 1980s, Fidel Castro had succeeded in forging an alliance between Colombia's narco-traffickers and leftist guerrillas. More recently, Mr. Chavez -- who has his own designs on neighboring Colombia -- has been underwriting Cuba's activities in that beleaguered country.

At the very least, the Cuban-Venezuelan campaign in Colombia merits urgent consideration by U.S. policy makers because it poses a major threat to our regional interest. And in view of that $800,000 suitcase, there's a decent likelihood that Mr. Chavez, in his efforts to destabilize President Uribe's regime, has also been spreading money around Washington. If Mr. Chavez is using his petrodollars to buy political influence in the U.S., it's worth finding out who is taking that money, and for what purpose.

 

Emilio Adolfo Rivero
President
New Cuba Coalition
Washington

 

 

The Wall Street Journal

Letters

August 25, 2007