In any other moment in time, the blowing of a rustic bridge on the frontier with Colombia by the Venezuelan army would’ve been insignificant. But not right now. That is why on Thursday of last week, when Venezuelan troops destroyed two walking bridges that joined Ragonvalia, in the Colombian province of Norte de Santander, with Las Delicias, in Tachira, Venezuelan territory, nobody doubted it was an unfriendly and calculated gesture. It was one more provocation in an already long chain of hostilities that has plagued the frontier for the last two months.
The diplomatic crisis between Uribe and Chávez started years ago, and their verbal confrontations have had ups and downs. It has been a high profile political war waged between Caracas and Bogotá, whose peaks of intensity have occurred when the camera flashes capture the charismatic and temperamental presidents. But for the first time, the battle reached the frontier and is started to seriously affect the population.
Even though in Palacio de Miraflores and Casa de Nariño, the presidential palaces, everybody talks about invasions, conspiracies, spy-games and other possible causes of war, nobody in Ragonvalia or Las Delicias is keeping track on high politics. They had been joined by the bridges for more than 25 years, when these were built to ease integration and peaceful living between the two communities. The bridges were identical to other 30 pedestrian crossroads created by the communities themselves all throughout the Tachira river, which serves as a dividing line.
The children on the Colombian side used to cross the bridges every day to go to school on the Venezuelan side, just like many Venezuelan teenagers who used to come to Cúcuta, in Norte de Santander, to attend college. The Colombians bring cosmetic products and oil from the other side while the Venezuelans often buy clothing, groceries and coffee on Colombian soil. On both sides of the river, they watch the same television shows, they hear the same radio stations, they dance to the same popular songs and, quite frequently, citizens from both side have friendships and form families that are truly binational.
Such is life in many frontiers of the world, where neighborly relationships are cemented on tradition and coexistence. It is precisely this custom, which is regarded as the base of good relations between countries in international law, which has seriously deteriorated in the last few weeks. The assassination of ten young men, most of them Colombians, in Táchira was followed by the murder of two agents of the Venezuelan National Guard. Then, various Colombians were detained on alleged spying charges, and last but definitely not least, Chavez cried out war threats.
Deportations, arrests, closing of frontiers, restrictions to commerce and mysterious deaths. And now, the blowing of the bridges that, unlike the other events, was clearly committed by the authorities of Venezuela.
The Venezuelan government affirmed that the “illegal” pathways were used to smuggle goods and as passages for the Colombian paramilitary groups. “The authorized pathways are established in the international treaties and they are: San Antonio, Ureña and Boca de Grita” stated general Eusebio Agüero Sequera, commander of the Venezuelan army in Tachira in a press conference. He also said that the explosives had been set up in Venezuelan soil and that it had been a sovereign act.
Colombia received Venezuela’s military action with concern, all the more because in the past few weeks there have been talks about a pre-war environment without any mediation in sight. Everybody fears that while the distance between Uribe and Chavez widens, the frontier is transformed into a mined field where any misstep can lead to an explosion. “The destruction of these pedestrian pathways is a very unfriendly act from Venezuela. On the frontier, every action must be agreed upon and must be discussed with the population on both sides. The unilateral actions are demonstrations of power.” Says Juan Carlos Sainz, expert on international public law at the Universidad Central de Venezuela.
Everything indicates that the destruction of the bridges is part of a close-the-frontier policy started by Chavez. This is why new measures and hostile episodes are expected. The victims, off course, will continue to bee the most vulnerable persons on both sides of the frontier. This suits Chavez on two accounts. By acting in this manner, he demonstrates power and force to Colombia and generates fragility in the region. He knows that any episode, small as it might be, may escalate into provocations with unprecedented consequences. It also helps him internally because it pressures the governor of Tachira, Cesar Perez Vivas, his great political adversary, in a critical time when elections are right around the corner.
Apparently, Uribe’s government has decided to follow the diplomatic way. “This is a very big aggression. It is an attack against the civil population that has built the bridges. Colombia is doing the right thing by taking this incident to the OAS and the UN. It must also present it before Unasur and the Rio Group” says former chancellor Augusto Ramirez Ocampo. Colombia must document every incident and create appropriate records, even though these reports may not lead to international judicial responses because according to experts, there may be no reason for them in the majority of the cases.
This is why skepticism pervades. It is unclear who would back president Uribe and the big question is whether these reports to international organizations are being done as mere formalities or if they are truly a possible way to end the crisis.
As El Tiempo, Colombia’s biggest newspaper, pointed out in one of its editorials, not even the United States has emphatically backed Colombia. The Security Council of the UN assured it received Colombia’s complaint but said there was nothing it could do, and the spokesman for Unsaur said his organization had no instruments with which to intervene. In practice, these multilateral organizations cannot do much if there is no war. And the international courts cannot intervene either, because there are no crimes other than mistrust and horrible discourses against each other.
The fact that Chavez destroyed the bridges is not a coded message, it is a clear demonstration of hostility. But it is not enough that Uribe succeeds in holding his own, not willing to give into Chavez’s provocations. The people in the frontier are beginning to feel their life is breaking apart, and the first symptoms of a grave social crisis are already emerging.
Truthfully, the only viable option is mediation. One or many friendly countries must intervene. Brazil, who was the first to offer mediation, was on the right track. It proposed the creation of a mechanism to patrol the frontier, and Colombia asked Spain to join in . Last week’s events are proof enough that the frontier is the weakest link in this dangerous chain reaction and that mechanisms to deactivate this time bomb are critical. Even if the disputes between Caracas and Bogotá continue and their resolution is still far off.