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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Greater Venezuela |
| 2005-09-01 |
| In recent months Venezuelan leaders, including the country's demagogic president, Hugo Chavez, have made numerous public statements about the "reunification" of the islands of the Dutch West Indies (Aruba, Bonaire, and Curaçao) with Venezuela. Venezuelan violations of Dutch air space and territorial waters, including illegal over flights by military aircraft, have occurred with some frequency. In addition, Venezuelan authorities have urged residents of the islands to form "Bolivarian" cells, in support of eventual "reunification." The Netherlands is taking these Venezuelan actions seriously. In addition to scheduling a meeting between a high level Dutch official and Chavez in a couple of weeks, the Dutch have reinforced their West Indian garrison (with consists of a small naval contingent, a battalion of infantry, and some helicopters) with a flight of F-16s. The Dutch government also intends to take the matter up with the European Union, where they are likely to be supported by Britain (given that some other territories on which Venezuela is laying claims, such as Trinidad & Tobago and Guyana, are members of the Commonwealth) and France (which also has overseas territories in the Caribbean). Added last paragraph of story The islands are legally integral parts of the national territory of The Netherlands. The inhabitants, most of whom are of African or mixed Afro-European descent, are fully represented in the Dutch parliament. None of the local political parties or leaders support either independence or annexation to Venezuela. This call for the creation of "Greater Venezuela" has no basis in historical fact, and is mainly another ploy by the Chavez to entertain in Venezuelan supporters. Chavez is joining with his new friend, Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, in opposing colonialism in the Caribbean. This ignores the fact that the "colonies" are democratic and prosperous. Castro has been going on about this for decades, with little to show for it. It's unlikely that Chavez will do any better. |
| Posted by:ed |
| #16 Curacao Good Lord! That could wreck havoc on the entire Margarita-Industrial Complex! And Aruba... well, let's just wait until after October, m'kay? I'd like to not have my honeymoon in an Occupied Territory. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2005-09-01 18:21 |
| #15 divers even more than skiers spend all their money on being underwater You don't say. |
| Posted by: Jean Claude Killy vs. Jacques Cousteau 2005-09-01 18:14 |
| #14 Argentina & The Falklands. A ploy to direct attention outwards. Unfortunately, Mynheer is no John Bull. |
| Posted by: Threnter Snolurt6782 2005-09-01 15:55 |
| #13 trailing wife: Chavez doesn't care about reality as we understand it very much. Don’t get me wrong; he’s plenty cunning in an aggressive, feral kind of way. He’s also been rather busy lately suppressing descent, destroying his nation’s capitalist economy, destabilizing Columbia, and getting ready to seize all or part of Equador. Hugo Chavez sees himself as the reincarnation of the legendary South American Simon Bolivar. As such he is destined to reunite at least Venezuela, Equador, Columbia, and Panama into the nation of Gran Columbia, a true South American superpower capable of asserting its place on the world stage as a major player. The Dutch islands are a sideshow, but an interesting one. Are the old colonial powers capable of holding onto their few remaining oversees territories? My guess is no, they aren’t, because they don’t have the willpower to hold onto them even if they still have the military ability to do so. Hugo and his generals have already reached the same conclusion. They will begin a campaign of propaganda and subversion, not only in the Caribbean but in Europe and America as well. Effective 5th columns will be set up on each island. Then they will invade with, say, 20-30 thousand troops. The Dutch will of course blast Chavez’s air force from the sky and destroy maybe a third of his landing craft but it won’t matter because between 5-10 thousand troops will come ashore on Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao, destroy any opposition with the help of locals who have already turned to their side, and announce that the inhabitants have thrown off their colonial oppressors to join Gran Columbia. Chavez doesn’t care about the economy of the Dutch Indies any more than Hitler cared about the economy of Czechoslovakia. It’s not really part of his thought process. |
| Posted by: Secret Master 2005-09-01 15:05 |
| #12 we'll take over boliva, then brazil, then chile, then the world eeeeeeaaaaarrrrwwwww!!!!!!!!! |
| Posted by: macofromoc 2005-09-01 14:38 |
| #11 Aruba, at least, is the playground for a great many monied people, as much from the Americas as from Europe. (Bonaire is only good for scuba diving -- and divers even more than skiers spend all their money on being underwater -- and Curacao has the Dutch oil terminals as well as the divers). Chavez would ruin the atmosphere of Aruba as he has that of Caracas, no matter how much he might promise to keep things unchanged under new management. I would expect any conquest or attempted conquest to generate a great deal of noisy complaint, which would either result in Chavez sent back home with his tail between his legs, or all the Happy People abruptly taking their custom and their money elsewhere, rendering the conquest pointless. Unless... does Curacao have oil refineries, or is it just a transfer station for the raw petrolium? If the former, Chavez needs to replace the refining capacity he managed to downgrade in Venezuela. If the latter, he would benefit by disrupting the transfer of a competitor's oil to market, increasing the value of the reduced Venezuelen supply. Rantburg expert: your thoughts on my ramblings, please. ;-) |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2005-09-01 14:10 |
| #10 The weird thing is I wrote a science fiction story where in the background this is exactly what happened. If Chavez takes the islands and the Europeans don't respond expect Castro and other knuckleheads to start looking around. |
| Posted by: rjschwarz 2005-09-01 12:42 |
| #9 Of course, we did stay neutral during the Faulkland conflict We did everything short of handing over the keys to the Enterprise. Many of the Harriers kills came via an advanced (for the time) Sidewinder. Overhead recon was also shared as well as ELINT. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2005-09-01 11:24 |
| #8 It was more a matter of the British saying they could do it tehmselves so they wouldn't put us in a difficult position by making us choose. I understand they did get every bit of intel we could give them, but none the less, it was not our finest hour. If Hugo gets Aruba will he take over the Natalee Holloway investigation? |
| Posted by: Mrs. Davis 2005-09-01 11:06 |
| #7 Of course, we did stay neutral during the Faulkland conflict. Not really sure why other than the British said they could take care of it themselves. |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-09-01 11:02 |
| #6 I would have to support the Dutch and the EU. The people living on those islands have it far better under Europian rule than they would under Chavez. I hope the Dutch DO play the NATO card. It would be a good casi belli for the US. |
| Posted by: mmurray821 2005-09-01 11:01 |
| #5 RC - I would really support the Dutch too, Chavez is a buffoon looking to imitate Castro. But I'd definately take the opportunity take some jabs the Europeans for some of the outrageous things they've accused the US of whenever we move to defend ourselves or our interest. |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2005-09-01 10:45 |
| #4 Time for the Netherlands to play the NATO card. An attack on one member is an attack on all members [not that means anything to most of the membership]. That's the entry for the US to issue a clear public statement that any infringement upon the Dutch territory will be considered an infringment upon soveign US territory and that all actions necessary will be taken. |
| Posted by: Slereger Slitle6846 2005-09-01 10:45 |
| #3 Just a thought, but would our obligations to the Netherlands under NATO force us to declare war on Venezuela if the Dutch are attacked? |
| Posted by: RWV 2005-09-01 10:44 |
| #2 While that would be loads of entertainment, I'd honestly support the Dutch in keeping people from under the clutches of Chavez's Greater South American Co-Prosperity Sphere. |
| Posted by: Robert Crawford 2005-09-01 10:29 |
| #1 While I would love to see Chavez and his band of frothing idiots get popped, I fully plan on harassing any "illegal European war for colonial empire" with any and all snarky comments that come to mind. Who knows, I may even unleash a photoshop attack on imperialist dutch warmongers. ;) No Blood For Beaches! Or something like that. :) |
| Posted by: Laurence of the Rats 2005-09-01 10:21 |