He smells the coffee

Even Hugo Chavez can be influenced. It turns out the way to do this is not diplomacy, but consistent and dogged pressure on activities that he should not be engaged in, such as his support for Colombia's rebel FARC. Chavez said the following, as reported in the NYT:

You in the FARC should know something. You have become an excuse for the empire to threaten all of us.

Of course, this is coming after some very damaging episodes that have made clear Venezuela's support for the Colombian terrorists. The FARC's days seem at an end, with the death of Manuel Marulanda and Raul Reyes and the increasing stability of Álvaro Uribe's Colombian government. This is a good thing.