How can we take your article serious when you're Venezuela's ambassador to the US in Washington. Of course your views are going to be skewed. Face it man, your leader is an insecure clown that wishes we were still living in the cold war of the 70s and 80s. If Chavez has nothing to hide then prove it to the rest of the world. That would be the best way to quiet down your critics like Colombia or the US.

Open your borders for the world to see. Proof is in the pudding pal and next time try to get all your facts straight and try to write a more objective article. We the people are not stupid.

At first I was astonished, shocked and somewhat disappointed that such a ludicrous piece would land in such a respectable, or at the very least ‘balanced’, journal as Foreign Policy magazine–But then I noticed the source of such partial opinion: Venezuela’s Ambassador to the United States.
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At least I’m glad that such ‘opinions’ are marginalized only to the diplomatic representatives of the “Socialism of the XXI century”, because it would be demoralizing if lies and deceit of such evident magnitude could penetrate so easily across the real academic foreign policy establishment.
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Where do I begin?
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As any other Colombian citizen I’ve received Mr. Chavez’s baseless insults, over and over again over the past 4 years, first with anger and then with worry, not of Mr. Chavez barely operational conventional ‘army’, but of what his rhethoric means for the prospects of Latin America. Both our government and our country have been called ‘empire pawns’, ‘paramilitaries’, ’warlords’ and ‘mafiosos’ by Mr. Chavez, all the while his own policies needlessly polarize his own country and the region as a whole, bankrupts the economy and scares away foreign investment in a desperate attempt to recreate a new Castro Regime around the very same ideology that history thought dead on December 1991. To read the article without understanding the strong ideological basis behind it would be foolish, after all we’re not dealing with an individuals’ opinion, Mr. Álvarez is merely replicating his country’s hypocritical lies.
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Now to the article itself, there is no point in denying that Colombia’s irregular groups have semi-free passage through most of our porous borders. That’s not the point of our claim, nor has it ever been, the point is that the Venezuelan government is ignoring at the very least and more likely aiding and assisting said groups with logistical, military and ideological support. It is in the same evidence that Mr. Álvarez tries to diminish; it’s a tangible reality in the terrorist camps whose coordinates we have provided. You don’t need the guerrillas own pictures, documents and videos, provided by military intelligence, to figure it all out. It’s REAL in countless videos, in day to day conversations with citizens in Zulia, present in the international media, the one that Mr. Chavez so profoundly denounces as “imperial tools of defamation”. It doesn’t take much intelligence to notice that Mr. Chavez is using the FARC either as a balancing strategic asset to prevent a strong and stable American ally from growing on his western border or even as proxy for his own extremist ideology . And that’s why Mr. Álvarez country will never accept cooperation tools with Colombia to provide mutual security in the border or even VERIFICATION of the claims by any organization (The ONLY thing Colombia has asked of multilateral organizations, pretty reasonable by all means) let it be by the OAS, UN or even UNASUR. Because Mr. Chavez’s tainted head to toe with leftist extremists. And he knows it. And it is Colombia’s God given right to denounce it to the international community when it is their citizens the ones who die, are kidnapped or forced to pay ransom, in the hands of the FARC.
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Behind Chavez’s proposed “peace process” lies the worst attempt to meddle in Colombian internal affairs and a mindless attempt to legitimize the terrorist organizations, the same legitimization Mr. Chavez himself proposed back in 2007 (One of the little events that Mr. Álvarez skillfully avoids). But Colombia knows better, after suffering through a failed peace process back in 1999 on which the only tangible results were a strengthened guerrilla, violence rates through the roof and a country at the edge of collapse. The same militarism and military assistance from the United States that Mr. Álvarez denounces saved this country from the brink, and leaves the current administration (made by a truly admirable, although deeply flawed, head of state) with over 75% of approval. And then there is the reminder that the incoming president, Mr. Santos, was Uribe’s candidate, his speeches have been filled with nothing but signs of respect, admiration and praise. And no need to further remind everyone that Mr. Santos was the first one to criticize Chavez over a decade ago, much less that the Venezuelan government was insulting him although the entire presidential campaign. This article proves Mr. Chavez hopes he can divide Colombian leadership through internal political rife, needless to say he will fail.
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And then there is the even more ludicrous point that the United States and Colombia are plotting to invade Venezuela at any given time. Obviously, to anyone who follows current US foreign policy closely that can only come as an absurd rambling. With the military desperately trying to disengage from Iraq, Afghanistan and deeply committed to South Korea, American public opinion and the dire state of the economy, there is no plausible attack OPTION in which the United States pursues a “war of aggression” against Venezuela. We have to remind ourselves that those are exactly the same ramblings repeated by decades by the Castro regime in Cuba, except this time they’re even more preposterous, with Mr. Chavez accusing Bermuda and Holland of plotting to take him out. Seriously, I mean, seriously? And you don’t want us to treat your president as a clown, Mr Álvarez?
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When Colombia’s government, in pursuit of a successful security policy goes through diplomatic channels and finds nothing but silence and contempt from the rest of the region, we come to assume of Latin America as nothing more than a distasteful conglomerate of weak, chaotic and distant countries, distracted by ideological disputes promoted by Mr. Chavez and much more worried about their own affairs than about the long term prospects of the entire region.
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Your country is the biggest shame to Latin America’s regional policy, to its democracy and regional stability, Mr. Álvarez. The more the Chavistas last in power, the more Bolivar’s unification dream becomes distant.
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Congratulations Ambassador, I’m pretty sure Chancellor Maduro produced a similar portray of cynicism and hypocrisy in front of the other regional chancellors at the meeting in UNASUR.

I cannot comment of the evidence Columbia provided, indeed I have no way of knowing if what Mr. Alvarez stated is all that there was. However I do have to say that he seems to be ignoring some facts.
The soldiers sent to those Columbian military bases are acting lawfully under Columbian law, indeed if Columbia and the U.S so wished they could send far more and use far more bases legally. The mandate for those soldiers is to target FARC and organized crime, not to cross Venezuela's border in pursuit of FARC*.
This article also misses the fact that Mr. Chavez has put Venezuelan soldiers on high alert and has threatened an embargo of oil to the U.S even though the U.S so far has done nothing to threaten Venezuela, nor has Columbia done anything to suggest that an attack is in the works.
Mr. Chavez, as opposed to being open to the possibility of working with Mr. Santos. Indeed, prior to the election I believe that Mr. Chavez stated that if Mr. Santos were elected it could lead to war, which seems to directly undercut any peace deal Venezuela may have offered.
Lastly, in a matter that seems to have been kept quiet for some time, I do not know of any reasonable explanation given by Venezuela as to how armaments that were sold to Venezuela somehow ended up in the hands of FARC.
To summarize, I will not say that it is certain that Venezuela is acting in a manner threatening to regional security but I will say that Mr. Chavez has seemed rather militant and times and there are troubling questions that no one (to the best of my knowledge) has answered.

* Yes the U.S has used umanned planes to attack Taliban leaders in Pakistan, but that is drastically different from sending soldiers over a border.

Mr. Ambassador everybody here in Venezuela knows that there are guerrillas in the Colombian-Venezuelan border. Even chavistas that I have talked to acknowledge the fact. And why does everybody know this information, well because people get constantly kidnapped in those areas and ranchers have to pay "vacunas" or estxorsion money to the guerrillas so they dont get kidnapped and sometimes that doesnt stop them. Plus the huge amounts of drugs that are being trafficked through our country from Colombian with at minimum the "blind eye" of youre "revolutionary" goverment. Let me tell you that there is nothing novel or revolutionary about demagoguery .

So without even having to read youre whole article which, unfortunately I did, to deny that Farc and ELN guerrillas are there is a blatant lie and shame on you sir

Due to the fact that he cannot be construed as an impartial member of this discussion, it is difficult not to see this article as not being biased against Colombia and the US.

Here in Panama, we have a love/hate relationship with the US, Colombia and Venezuela, chiefly because these countries are literally our neighbors...so what happens between these countries will certainly affect our small country.

WOW! In Spanish this is call "mania persecutoria". As if Obama didn't have enough problems in this country to deal with... When politicians from countries like Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, etc., want to cover up the fact that they are getting fatter and richer while destroying their countries natural resources and human freedom, they blame the "Imperio". How bias that this Ambassador be talking about peace in the same article as he talks about Chavez! What a contradiction!!! All Chavez wants is for the world not to forget about him, and he would use any clown tactics to be in the news.

Some valid points by both sides. Without a doubt, the situation in the area is complicated especially when I consider Venezuela a respected brother (I'm Colombian by birth). By no means is Colombia been perfect either such as the paramilitary involvement. However, I do admire that they are trying to clean up decades of terrorism, drug trafficking, intimidation and kidnapping. In case we have forgotten, this is how the FARC & ELN continue to finance themselves today. They're not powerful anymore and they have to hide behind Chavez skirt.

Rewind time 15-20 years ago...The FARC was only a few miles outside Bogota and the inmates were running the asylum if you know what I mean. Today, the FARC and ELN are running for the hills and Colombia is a much safer place. Chavez is looking very stupid right now for supporting the FARC. As mentioned before, he recently had to go public requesting the FARC & ELN reconsider their strategy going forward (shocking).

That's why the idea that US/Colombia wants to invade Venezuela is ludicrous. Seriously, what good would that bring anyone? NADA. Diplomacy, giving land and money didn't bring peace with the FARC. In case you didn't know, Colombia gave away a territory the size of Switzerland to the FARC in the 90s which in the end, they use militarily against Colombia. Unfortunately the only way to negotiate with these terrorists is to take the fight right to them. When these groups go outside the Colombian borders, it gets complicated especially when Chavez and Correa offer bias support in favor of these left wing groups.

Venezueal2010 is right on. "Chavez wants is for the world not to forget about him, and he would use any clown tactics to be in the news". Why does he try so hard to be a wannabe Castro? What's ironic is that our freedom of speech allows Mr. Alvarez and Mr. Chavez to bring their skewed views here meanwhile they're suppressing free speech/press in Venezuela.