Balloon going up in South America?

[AJ Dual]

http://colombiareports.com/colombia-news/news/6955-venezuelan-army-destroyed-two-bridges-in-colombia-ombudsman.html 

Opening prelude to a war? Or just saber rattling trying to provoke Colombia?

I'd guess if Venezuela/Chavez had designs on invading, they'd not be blowing up bridges, unless these are deep enough into Colombia that it's designed to prevent them from sending reinforcments against a Venezuelan incursion.

[Physics]

According to Reuters, they were border bridges.  

http://www.reuters.com/article/hotStocksNews/idUSN1914492120091119

[AJ Dual]

That's a little  better at least. And they appear to be pedestrian bridges too.

Huge PITA for the people with business/family on both sides of the border. I had no idea if these were roadway bridges, in the interior of Colombia or what.

I'd heard that Venezuelan products were getting smuggled/routed through Colombia to avoid the punative socailist taxes etc. Perhaps this may have been in response to that.

[MagnumDweeb]

I didn't think Colombia was socialist. Venezuela I thought was socialist. If you are Chavez and you don't want poor starving folks getting goods without the burdensome taxes of Venezuela than you blow the pedestrian bridges to Colombia. I'm guess they have customs at the main border bridges and roads to tax stamp incoming goods. If Colombia and Venezuela were to go at it I'd put my money on Colombia. Folk like Los Pepes would step up to guerilla fight the Venez. troops. And the rampaging Narco and Anti-Narco forces would find a common enemy to take out for a change. Yeah I realize some Narco forces are possibly backed by Chavez but it's one thing to be backed, it's another to be controlled and taxed.

[Zardozimo Oprah Bannedalas]

Interesting times, these. Don't we have some sort of protection agreement with Colombia?

[AZRedhawk44]

Interesting times, these. Don't we have some sort of protection agreement with Colombia?

Doesn't matter.  Our President is a Nobel-Laureate.  By default that means he's militarily impotent.