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AP/William Fernando Martinez

Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe speaks during a press conference
at the presidential palace in Bogota, Friday , July 16, 2010

Venezuela recalled its ambassador to Bogota on Friday, a day after Colombia's president claimed that leftist rebel leaders fighting his government were in the neighboring South American nation.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said ambassador Gustavo Marquez was recalled to Caracas for consultations to help "evaluate a series of measures" that Venezuela is examining.

Maduro said the ambassador had been given an "official protest letter rejecting the lies and falsehoods put forward by the government of (Colombian) President Alvaro Uribe."

On Thursday, Colombia said it had evidence five leaders of leftist guerrilla groups, which have been waging an armed campaign against the government since the 1960s, were in Venezuela.

Colombia and Venezuela froze diplomatic ties last year after Bogota and Washington inked a military cooperation agreement Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez considered a threat to regional security.

In Bogota meanwhile, officials said the government would seek to bring the matter to unspecified "international organizations."

"Over the past six years the Colombian government has maintained a patient dialogue with the government of Venezuela, during which we offered, on a number of occasions, information on the whereabouts of terrorists on its territory," a statement from the president's office said.

"All of this has failed to produce results on the issue of terrorist leaders. We must now consider bringing the issue to international organizations.

The statement repeated the claim from Bogota about "the presence in Venezuela of terrorist who are seeking to attack our country."

Uribe's office on Thursday said that the rebels leaders in Venezuela included four key members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and one from the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN), both of which have been waging an armed campaign against the Colombian government since the mid-1960s.

In a statement, Uribe's office said Colombian defense officials would be providing "evidence of the presence" of four FARC leaders and one ELN chief in Venezuela.

Story from AFP
AFP 07/16/2010 18:15

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Venezuela recalls ambassador to Colombia amid rebel row