Troubles in Columbia may lead to higher gas prices
by Jason Hartline, staff writer
Two things that plague society are the need for oil and
war.
Considering recent events dealing with Colombia, it seems as
though these two things coincide. The conflict in South
America arose when Colombia crossed the border of Ecuador to
perform a deadly assault against the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, a Colombian-based rebel group, a
guerilla organization also known as the FARC.
Ecuador’s government is furious about the raid. A dispute
arose at the Organization of American States in Washington,
D.C., when Ecuador’s foreign minister demanded the O.A.S.
condemn Colombia’s raid as a violation of Ecuador's
sovereignty. Venezuela is also upset with Colombia. In
response to the raid, President Hugo Chavez sent 10 army
battalions to the Colombian border. This is roughly 10,000
troops. President Chavez has also sent tanks, sea and air
units to the border, accompanying the ground troops. Rafael
Correa, the president of Ecuador, has mobilized an
additional 3,500 troops to their border of Colombia as well.
Alvaro
Uribe, president of Colombia, argued against Ecuador’s
accusations by saying the governments of Venezuela and
Ecuador provide support to the rebels. Because Colombian
officials say intelligence information seized in the raid
shows that President Chavez has given hundreds of millions
of dollars to the FARC, President Uribe has now signaled he
will seek to bring charges of genocide against the
Venezuelan President for supporting these rebels.
President
Uribe said, "We are proposing to the International Criminal
Court that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela be denounced
for the presumed crime of financing genocide. We have
suffered 40 years of terrorism, and we can't accept that a
country should be in solidarity and in complicity with
terrorists."
However
valiant Colombia’s reasons seem for the invasion, O.A.S.
Secretary Reinaldo Rodriguez Gallad says President Correa is
now being backed by the organization. Secretary Gallad said,
"We reaffirm the principle that a state's territory can't be
violated and can't be the subject of military occupation,
nor any other forceful measure taken by any other state,
whatever the motive may be, even temporarily."
Ecuador has
also rejected a recent Colombian apology. In other words,
Colombia invaded Ecuador without their permission, and that
made both Ecuador and Venezuela mad.
This is
important to United States citizens because the United
States was the only nation in the OAS to offer Colombia
unqualified support. This means that if Venezuela and
Ecuador mobilize their troops into Colombia, the United
States will call their 911 force to reestablish order. The
911 force is composed of the MEU,
Marine Expeditionary
Unit.
The mission of the MEU is to provide
geographic combatant commanders with a forward-deployed,
rapid-response force capable of conducting conventional
amphibious and selected maritime special operations at
night or under adverse weather conditions from the sea, by
surface and/or by air while under communications and
electronics restrictions. This unit is more than capable of
handling any situation.
After
speaking with a close friend who happens to be a part of the
15th MEU, another war may be inevitable.
Recently, the 13th and 15th MEU have
been going through intense training. A certain training
process that usually takes up to a year to complete has been
condensed into four months. My close friend feels the
training is to better prepare the Marines if a situation
occurs that requires that they be deployed into South
America.
All of that
is uncertain though. “What if” can be said all day, but
nothing amounts from that question. What is important is the
result of this conflict.
Because the United States is an ally, and supporting
Colombia, Venezuela has cut exports of crude oil to the
United States. Venezuela is one of the leading suppliers of
crude oil to the United States.
Oil
producers in the Middle East have assured the United States
that they could compensate for a supply disruption. The only
bad thing about this is that by switching suppliers, the
United States is now being forced to pay $106 a barrel. This
means higher gas prices, which could be avoided if OPEC
would boost output.
Pressure has mounted on OPEC to raise output, which would
put more crude on the market and help pull down prices,
which have been holding above $100 per barrel for weeks.
Chakib Khelil, president of OPEC, said, “Because of the
economic slowdown in the United States, which is affecting
world economic growth and world demand on oil this year, I
don't think OPEC will consider increasing its production,”
Khelil told reporters. “Stocks are very high ... and we are
going to have less demand in the second part of the year.”
The
group contends that there is an ample supply of crude, and
since demand typically eases in the second quarter, it was
widely expected to take no action. There is not a lot the
United States can do about this matter either.
"We
did try to encourage (an increase in OPEC output).” White
House spokeswoman Dana Perino said. “But if OPEC has decided
they are not going to increase output, there's not a lot
that the president can do. We don't control their
decisions.”
Because of the OPEC decision and Venezuela cutting supplies,
gas prices are estimated to hit $4 a gallon by the beginning
of April. The rising prices at the pump can be seen all
over. During one week recently, prices rose 16 cents. That
is just ridiculous.
