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The northwestern region of the South American continent has been receiving a bulk of bad press in the past few months. While Ecuador's coverage is relatively recent, Colombia has been accustomed to media exposure for decades, whereas Venezuela only began receiving criticism since President Lt. Colonel Hugo Chavez Frias came to power in 1998. Nonetheless, the three have been highlighted since March.

As far as Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez and Chavez go, each leader has his own domestic demons to battle. Uribe has a personal vendetta against Colombia's Marxist guerrilla group, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the group by whom his father was killed in 1983 during a kidnapping attempt. In order to conquer the insurgent group and save face, Uribe allows Washington to maintain a short leash on his political agenda, and in return he receives billions of dollars through an ever-failing Plan Colombia.

Chavez, on the other hand, finally assumed the presidency six years after his failed coup attempt of 1992. A nation ravaged by poverty and economic inequality with an entrenched oligarchy that was too subservient to Washington's demands were the catalysts that brought Chavez to action against the Venezuelan government. His Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement captured the support of a majority of impoverished citizens who elected to him to office with a 57-40% victory on December 6, 1998 (1).

By the time Uribe came to office in 2002, Plan Colombia had already been underway for two years. With a political platform that promised to crush the guerrillas once and for all, Uribe made no hesitations to continue accepting funding from the U.S. Government. His volition to go to the negotiating table with Washington in order to secure a free-trade agreement between the two nations demonstrates additional willingness on behalf of Uribe to cooperate with Washington.

This is where the tensions mount for Chavez, who is determined to set the entire region against what he refers to as the Empire and its sulfuric smelling leader. Anyone who cooperates with Washington is essentially an enemy to Chavez. As such, accusations from Chavez point to Uribe as an ally of the Empire, and therefore a nemesis of his Bolivarian Revolutionary Movement. It seems the longer Uribe snuggles up to Bush, the more inflammatory Chavez's criticism becomes.

In response to Chavez's mudslinging, Uribe has accused the Venezuelan president of cooperating with the FARC and being sympathetic to

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