Striking Back Across the Border in South America

One of the clearest asymmetries in the war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them is that Western countries believe borders are sacrosanct, while terrorists and their sponsors do not. Syria and Iran supply Hezbollah across the Lebanon border. The PKK crosses from Iraq into Turkey. Hamas shoots rockets at Israel and smuggles arms from Egypt. Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia have all permitted irregular forces to cross from their countries into Iraq. Taliban and al Qaeda cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan.

One of the clearest asymmetries in the war against terrorists and the states that harbor and support them is that Western countries believe borders are sacrosanct, while terrorists and their sponsors do not. Syria and Iran supply Hezbollah across the Lebanon border. The PKK crosses from Iraq into Turkey. Hamas shoots rockets at Israel and smuggles arms from Egypt. Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia have all permitted irregular forces to cross from their countries into Iraq. Taliban and al Qaeda cross into Afghanistan from Pakistan. Efforts at defense against these incursions are internationally suspect and retaliation generally condemned, at least by the UN.

South of our border, terrorist organizations and state sponsors combine in places with weak governments. A variety of Islamist organizations, including Hamas and Hezbollah, are active the in the uncontrolled area between Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay known as the Tri-Border Area. Venezuela has given identity documents that can be used for Venezuelan passports and even American visas to people from Syria, Pakistan, Egypt and Lebanon. Saudi Arabia finances the construction of mosques and Islamic centers in several countries. Free trade zones make travel between countries easy.

Not all of the mess is related to Middle Eastern activities. Democratic Colombia has been plagued for years by FARC, a vicious drug cartel dealing in kidnapping and massacres of civilian opponents. Designated a terrorist organization by the United States and Europe, FARC had based one of its top commanders in neighboring Ecuador.

Colombia struck back this weekend – killing a top FARC commander and about 20 of his operatives in a raid on a base about a mile inside Ecuador. No Colombian forces remained in Ecuador after the raid. The Washington Post reported:

Senior Colombian officials say a laptop recovered at the FARC camp contained evidence that Mr. Chavez had recently given the group $300 million and had financial links with the terrorists dating to his own failed coup against a previous Venezuelan government in 1992. Colombia said Mr. Correa’s government (Ecuador) had been negotiating with Mr. Reyes (the FARC commander) about replacing Ecuadorian military officers who might object to his use of the country as a base. In other words, both Mr. Correa and Mr. Chavez were backing an armed movement with an established record of terrorism and drug trafficking against the democratically elected government of their neighbor.

That makes Venezuela and Ecuador state sponsors of terrorism in our book, providing the attributes of statehood to non-state actors. They should be no more immune from retaliation than Iran, Syria, Pakistan or the Palestinian Authority should be.

Unfortunately, The Organization of American States denounced Colombia’s defense against the FARC and calling the raid, “a violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ecuador and of principles of international law.” The OAS has learned nothing from the Middle East’s experience with transnational terrorism. It is Ecuador that permitted the violation of Colombia’s sovereignty, and Ecuador that must either fix the problem or expect the legitimate response of a country that declines to be the victim.