War rumour mill hots up

I. War rumour mill hots up
Thursday, March 5, 2008 5:00 AM
The New Zealand Herald
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10496362&pnum=0

II. Summary: A war is brewing within the Latin and South American countries that could turn the area into another Middle East. A rebel group called the FARC(Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) has been fighting the Colombian government for years with the use of drug selling and kidnapping within Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. While there is a lot of pointing fingers on who first fired, Colombia or Ecuador, but the United States government has supported Alvaro Uribe, the Colombian president, in order to stop the importing of cocaine into the US. While Venezuela has been working to stop the US influence, Colombia has claimed to have a computer of a FARC leader, Raul Reyes, that supposedly indicate ties between the rebels and the other two nations. Reyes was killed by Colombian forces in his base in Ecuador when the tension snapped into battle.

III. Reactions:

A) This article relates to the AP World History theme of state-building, expansion, and conflict. There is an obvious conflict of interest between 3 nations caused by a rebel group within them, added with the influence of a nation on another continent. The FARC rebels are not happy with their government, therefore they are working to change it but the way in which the are doing it has cause major conflicts that could lead to another war.

B) The Colombian FARC rebels originally started in the Colombian Communist military section in the 1960s but separated after an attack by the Colombian National Army. They were later known as Bloque Sur but changed to the FARC. They started the dealing of drugs in the 1980s and are considered a terrorist group by many nations except Cuba and Venezuela. The killing of Raul Reyes on March 1, 2008 has lead to increasing tensions that could have terrible outcomes.

C) The writer of this article is from New Zealand, making them an outsider.

D) The country of New Zealand has had no influence in this controversy or with any nations involved. They seem to just be simply reporting the news without any bias views except for the quotes from people of the involved nations. The gender of this reporter would also have no influence that would make them support one group over another.

E) To gain a full view of this controversy, I would like to here from a member of the FARC. This would be very hard due to the fact that they are considered terrorists by many nations, but it would allow reasoning to be shown for someone to fight with them. Also, a member of the US government would allow them to express their plans for any war that may occur and their views on the death of Reyes.

F) When I first saw this article, I was not aware of any fighting that was going on in South America. I was surprised when the writer mentioned that the region could turn into another Middle East due to the fighting. This article also changed my views of the Iraq War because now I know that we are also involved in another war. President Bush has involved us in many conflicts that may or may not help our country. The side effects of his world influence may affect later presidential terms.