Si vis pacem para bellum: Hugo Chávez, Venezuela’s mercurial president, took a page from Latin oratory as he used his Sunday television show to tell troops to prepare for “100 years of war” with neighbouring Colombia.

“If you want peace, you have to be prepared for war,” Mr Chávez said, but by recklessly ratcheting his country’s long-standing animosity with US-friendly Colombia, he runs the danger of escalating a conflict he affects to forestall.