In a recent letter to Speaker Pelosi, President Obama stated that North Korea does not fit the criteria for being listed as a state sponsor of terrorism, which would automatically impose sanctions.  That leaves four countries on the list: Cuba, Iran, Sudan, and Syria.  But given testimony this week from Director of National Intelligence Denis Blair to the U.S. Senate, we have to wonder, why not Venezuela?

Blair pointed out that its authoritarian president Hugo Chavez, which called Colombia’s Defense Cooperation agreement with the U.S. “a declaration of war against Venezuela,” continues offering covert support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which the U.S. Department of State lists as a terrorist organization. The FARC has killed and kidnapped Americans as well as killed innocent Colombians with its terror attacks.  Chavez is also pursuing closer ties with all four of the state sponsors of terrorism, and could well turn Caracas into a Mecca for terror wannabees in the Americas. For these and other reasons, it is past time to put Venezuela on the list of state sponsors of terrorism.