On Monday, Hugo Chávez accused Colombia of using a US-manufactured spy plane to over-fly its airspace. Colombian officials denied not only that this happened, but stated that their military did not have such the required military technology. The retort from Bogotá via its Defense Minister, Gabriel Silva, included a little bit of humor: perhaps the Venezuelan soldiers were mistaken and instead of seeing a spy plane, confused it with the sleigh of Father Christmas (Santa)?
In both Venezuela and Colombia families unite the evening of the 24th to exchange their gifts at midnight. At that time children receive their presents from San Nicolás (St. Nick) or Baby Jesus. In each country the families also know how to party, and many stay up celebrating until daylight.
Venezuelans do appear to be a bit less religious than in some other Latin American nations, and many use the time off to head for sand and waves. Most live only a few hours by car from the nearest beach, and this week the temperatures in Caracas will reach into the low nineties.
With New Year’s right around the corner the majority of citizens in the two countries are no doubt hoping for the gift of peace in 2010. In the meantime, the level of stress between the two countries remains high.
A few months ago, I wrote about the early stages of the conflict in Ukraine through the lens of Sun Tzu’s The Art of War. While it appears likely that the war will carry on into the foreseeable future, enough time has passed for us to make an honest assessment of each side’s relative […]
The Ukrainian Army has made dramatic strides in the last few weeks. Ukraine’s tactical commanders have outfoxed their Russian counterparts, and by issuing a feint towards the south the UA has been able to earn substantial gains in the north of their country. The impact of these efforts have been compounded by the steady stream […]
In mid-May the Irish political party, Sinn Féin, won the plurality of seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly. Many American readers might not fully understand the significance of Sinn Féin’s political victory- but rest assured that subjects of the United Kingdom and a wide range of political movements the world over have heard the message […]
The first wave of the Russian offensive in Ukraine has fallen short of Russian autocrat Vladmir Putin’s ambitions. Most analysts deduced that Putin had hoped to achieve a decapitation strike of the Ukrainian government- taking Kiev and replacing Ukrainian President Vladimir Zolinski with a pro-Kremlin voice. Kiev has been threatened repeatedly through the course of […]
On the weekend of March 26th, the notorious MS-13 gang went on a massive killing spree in El Salvador which left more than 70 people dead by Sunday. Even for a country where powerful gangs hold massive sway, this recent tragedy stands out considering that it was the bloodiest day on record since the civil […]
