Why Hugo might get off the hook

Jackson Diehl explains why the U.S. government, for all its criticism of Hugo Chávez and his increasingly damning ties to Colombia’s FARC rebels, might not take the next logical step and brand the Venezuelan leader a terrorist sponsor: [T]he Colombian evidence would be more than enough to justify a State Department decision to cite Venezuela ...

Jackson Diehl explains why the U.S. government, for all its criticism of Hugo Chávez and his increasingly damning ties to Colombia's FARC rebels, might not take the next logical step and brand the Venezuelan leader a terrorist sponsor:

Jackson Diehl explains why the U.S. government, for all its criticism of Hugo Chávez and his increasingly damning ties to Colombia’s FARC rebels, might not take the next logical step and brand the Venezuelan leader a terrorist sponsor:

[T]he Colombian evidence would be more than enough to justify a State Department decision to cite Venezuela as a state sponsor of terrorism. Once cited, Venezuela would be subject to a number of automatic sanctions, some of which could complicate its continuing export of oil to the United States. A cutoff would temporarily inconvenience Americans — and cripple Venezuela, which could have trouble selling its heavy oil in other markets.

There are many interpretations of the so-called Bush Doctrine, but as Diehl alludes, confronting state sponsors of terrorism is surely on of its key tenets. When one alleged terrormaster happens to be your third-largest oil supplier, though, such doctrinal edicts tend to get a little fuzzy.

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