President forever or Jailbird

According to one Venezuelan intellectual, those are Chavez' alternatives if he decides to keep going down the road of sponsoring the FARC.

Aníbal Romero deduces that if the US does designate Venezuela as a terrorist-sponsoring state, the economic repercussions would be tremendous and that the US Justice Department would go after Chavez himself.

This is the first I've heard of that possibility - why haven't we gone after the President of Iran? Or Kim Yung Il (is that his name?). I'm not sure how plausible Mr. Romero's suppositions are on the US Justice Department indicting Chavez, but it's an interesting theory.

I did find interesting Mr. Romero's conclusions as to why Chavez backed down at the Rio Summit group meeting and left Correa flapping in the wind. (Political kudos go to Uribe in sizing up the situation and extending his hand to Correa on that one. He saw a chance to step into the tiny little crack between Chavez and Correa and took it. Makes sense since Correa wasn't really pushing things until Chavez stepped in and started spouting off and commanding troops to the border.)

What I find particularly interesting is the supposition that the Venezuelan Army wasn't really wanting to get into a fight with their Colombian counterparts. Could it be that the military's patience is wearing thin with Chavez? Even if Chavez controls the upper ranks, he may not have the loyalty of the rank and file troops and even mid-level officers. (Poetic justice if a coup were to be launched by a Lt. Colonel paratrooper!!!!) Maybe they are tired of being his day laborer's for his social agenda.

Good article from El Universal (maybe the next media outlet in Venezuela on the chopping block?).