Word: chavez
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...feels the U.S. lacks the moral authority in this case to label Venezuela a terrorism sponsor. Even the Republican staff of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, in a report issued last month headed up by the office of Indiana Senator Richard Lugar, advised the Bush Administration not to give Chavez the kind of anti-U.S. tool he uses so well to his favor. "If Venezuela is found to be complicit, the U.S. would be wise to allow for the regional dynamic to take its course," the report wrote. "If the U.S. reacts too strongly, attention will go from Venezuela...
...Cuban exile wanted in Venezuela for allegedly masterminding a 1976 terror attack on a Cuban jetliner in Caracas, which killed 73 people. The U.S. refuses to extradite Posada despite FBI evidence implicating him in the crime. The 80-year-old, who lives freely in Miami, denies the accusations. Chavez has long argued that the Posada case proves what he calls a U.S. double standard on terrorism...
...then there's the possibility, albeit remote in the eyes of many observers, that Chavez might be right - that the laptops themselves might not be authentic. Interpol chief Richard Noble said he was "absolutely certain" that the computers "came from a FARC terrorist camp." But technically, all that Interpol did in its examination of the computers was to confirm that they had not been messed with post-March 1; it wasn't asked to investigate Chavez's allegations that the computers had been planted by the Colombian military in the first place. "The intelligence is mistaken," Venezuelan Ambassador...
...Another incentive against raising the stakes with Venezuela is the three U.S. defense contractors who have been held hostage by the FARC since 2003. Chavez has, this year, mediated the release of a handful of high-profile Colombian hostages held by the guerrillas, and sources familiar with the case of the U.S. captives acknowledge that the Venezuelan firebrand could play a similar role in their freedom. It's an admittedly slim hope, but one the U.S. probably won't want to jeopardize at this point...
...finally, Colombia itself may not be overly enthusiastic about clobbering Venezuela with terrorism sanctions. Venezuela is still its chief trading partner - bilateral commerce shot up 25% last year - and neither nation can afford to compromise it. Chavez did call Uribe a "criminal" after Colombia's March 1 sortie, and he said Thursday that Venezuela would now "deeply review ... relations with Colombia." But Uribe directed no such remarks at Chavez. He seems satisfied that the laptops have done the talking...