For Colombia, this means even greater U.S. involvement in its escalating civil war. Bush administration attempts to expand aid to the Colombian military in its fight against leftist insurgents have been largely unsuccessful, despite branding the insurgents as narco-terrorists and linking that fight to the drug war. Washington now can play on the historical connections between Cuba and the Marxist-inspired Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), as well as on alleged links between FARC leaders and a wider terrorist network, to claim that Colombia's internal struggle against insurgents is a national security priority for the United States.

Demonizing Cuba will be even more useful in dealing with Venezuela, where the real issue is, and always will be, oil. President Hugo Chavez counts Castro among his closest friends, and the connections between the two countries are myriad, including a valuable oil supply deal. Washington is still smarting from Chavez's return from a failed ouster and from allegations that U.S. officials may have had advance knowledge of -- or even supported -- the coup attempt. The Bush administration can use the friendship between Castro and Chavez to paint the Venezuelan president as a potential threat to U.S. national security. It will do so obliquely -- but even so, that connection will be important as U.S. officials plan their next move regarding Venezuela.