Chavez Colombia troop move may distract from woes
By Brian Ellsworth
CARACAS, March 3 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's sending troops to the Colombian border and escalating a dispute with Bogota may help him distract Venezuelans from problems with his self-styled revolution.
Chavez, an anti-U.S. socialist, on Sunday ordered tank battalions to the Colombian border after Colombia killed a leader of the Marxist FARC rebels in an incursion into Ecuador that sparked a three-way crisis in the unstable Andean region. Chavez has warned it could erupt into war.
The military moves, which included putting fighter jets on alert and warning that Venezuela would counterattack if hit, are likely to divert attention from Venezuelan problems such as food shortages and squabbling among his political allies.
But they also risk dragging Chavez into the Colombian conflict or making him appear sympathetic to the unpopular guerrillas.
"Chavez has frequently used an aggressive and outspoken foreign policy style to divert attention from domestic problems -- and it's obviously what he's doing here," said Susan Kaufman Purcell, director of the Center for Hemispheric Policy at the University of Miami.
After months of heavy coverage about food shortages, newspapers on Monday led with headlines about the military escalation.
Chavez, a former soldier, is facing growing criticism from the OPEC nation's poor majority because Venezuela faces Latin America's highest inflation rate and shortages of staples like milk and chicken.
Even some supporters complain health and education programs that have buoyed Chavez's popularity are in decay and dissatisfaction is on the rise over long lines at state-subsidized supermarkets.
Chavez's bid to create a united socialist party has been slowed by infighting among allies and fallout over his unprecedented defeat in a December referendum that would have let him run indefinitely for re-election.
On Sunday, he lamented the "cowardly assassination" of the "good revolutionary" Raul Reyes, considered the No. 2 of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia or FARC, in a Colombian military incursion into Ecuador.
Venezuela and Colombia have feuded since conservative President Alvaro Uribe pushed Chavez out of hostage talks with FARC rebels in November. Chavez' stance that the FARC should be seen as an insurgent army and not a terrorist group has stoked the dispute.
PICKING FIGHTS
In the past, Chavez has often sought foreign battles when in a bind.
In the run-up to the December referendum, Chavez recalled his envoy to Colombia and threatened to halt ties with Spain as polls showed him facing the tightest race of his career.
When U.S. oil giant Exxon Mobil won court orders freezing up to $12 billion in Venezuelan assets, he repeated an oft-made threat last month to halt oil exports to the United States. World oil prices jumped the following week.
Though Chavez often rallies supporters by insulting Washington or confronting Uribe, his current strategy risks putting him on the wrong side of Venezuelan public opinion.
Polls show Venezuelans overwhelmingly oppose the FARC and believe Chavez should not get involved in Colombia's conflict, even though he has won praise this year for helping to free six hostages held for years by the FARC in secret jungle camps.
Venezuelans living along the border increasingly blame the region's extortion and kidnapping on Colombian rebels.
Analysts say Chavez is losing touch with his support base by letting his revolutionary ideology -- highlighted by his public backing of the FARC -- overtake his highly popular anti-poverty programs.
"People are asking, 'Why should we get into yet another problem, in a problem that does not directly have to do with us?'" said Maruja Tarre, an international relations expert at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
