Amid the crisis in Japan and conflict in Libya, President Obama is scheduled to take a trip to South America this weekend. The President undoubtedly has a lot on his foreign policy plate, but while he’s in the region the administration ought to give pay some needed attention to what’s going on between Venezuela and Colombia.

Thanks to efforts by the Colombian government, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are on the defensive. Once the most powerful insurgent group in the Western Hemisphere, the FARC’s army controlled large swaths of land across the country and directly threatened the government’s stability by the late 1990s. Though the group maintains the ability to attack the government at any given moment, the group is on the run in remote portions of the Andean jungle. Unfortunately, Colombia’s successful efforts have not been matched by neighboring Venezuela.