Stunning news from Hugo Chavez

By Thomas Lifson

The Marxist president of Venezuela has ytold the FARC guerillas in neighboring Colombia to give up their struggle to overthrow the US ally: (via BBC)

In his weekly television and radio programme on Sunday, Mr Chavez urged the Farc's new leader, Alfonso Cano, to "let all these people go".

"There are old folk, women, sick people, soldiers who have been prisoners in the mountain for 10 years," he added.

The Venezuelan president said ending the rebellion could lead to a peace process between the rebels and the Colombian government.

"The guerrilla war is history," he said. "At this moment in Latin America, an armed guerrilla movement is out of place."

Only a few months ago Chavez was a funder and public defender of the FARC narco-terrorists. What changed?

The first thing that leaps to mind is the capture of a FARC laptop computer by Colombian forces, containing files that incriminated Chavez. (The BBC provides helpful background information toward the end of this article.)

I have no idea if there was more discovered on this computer than we have heard about. Perhaps some help from the financial records in following one or more money trails. Or perhaps information implicating other regimes or organizations.

There must be some sort of story behind this stunning about face. Chavez has not woken up to the virtues of a free society.

I have no idea if the American government played a role in handling the use of whatever information may have come off of the laptop captured in a FARC camp in Ecuador. It is certainly conceivable.

Whether or not American diplomacy had anything to do with it, this move by Chavez is an excellent outcome for our diplomacy.