Deanna Grunenberg

I. Chavez: Conflict with the US is inevitable

Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST

March 5, 2008

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1204546410040&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

II. There are a lot of problems going on in South America. There is conflict between countries that border each other. They have different views on how they should govern themselves. The FARC are Colombian guerrillas that are fighting against the government. They are causing many problems for the region. They have kidnapped many people including a French-Colombian politician which has not only upset Colombia, but also France. Chavez, the president of Venezuela, reinforced the border with troops, but that has only seemed to cause more problems because merchandise is unable to cross. Many Colombian truckers had to wait a long time before being able to cross the border. Leaders of these countries have many different views on this topic. Some of them also have views on how others are handling it. Because Colombia’s government went into Ecuador, and attacked who they thought were guerrillas, the Ecuadorean President said that Colombia wanted war. If people start to go into other countries and attack them, then danger will spread. He said that these acts need to be punished or else many others will be victims to this bad situation. This is a problem that is affecting many of the countries in South America.

III.

A. An AP World Theme that relates to this article is State-building, expansion, and conflict. This relates because it deals with conflict and government. These countries are fighting because of the guerrillas. Chavez also uses nationalism in his speeches. There are many nations involved in this situation.

B. The Colombian guerrillas started out because of social inequality. There were many peasant revolts that were put down by violence. They started to come together to fight the powerful land owners. They are still fighting for the poor majority.

C. The Associated Press wrote this article for the Jerusalem Post. They are an American news organization that sells their articles to other newspapers so it is unknown who they are exactly.

D. This article is bias in that they leave out certain details. Chavez claims that the US wants Venezuela as a US colony. This is untrue, but the writer of the article does not counteract Chavez’s statement. Chavez talks about the US and says, “They want us in chains…” This is a Jerusalem newspaper, so someone may read it, and think of the US as overpowering or controlling. Chavez also says that Colombia and Washington represent war. This may be his opinion, which he has a right to, but the writer does not give any information saying that it is not true.

E. I would like to hear from a Colombian guerrilla. It would be helpful to understand why they are keeping people hostage. Maybe if Colombia knew exactly why they were causing so many problems, then they could fix it.

F. I think that this was a very interesting article. I never knew about all of the problems occurring in South America. There is much more violence going on than I ever thought there was.