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Reuters/Jorge Silva

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas

Venezuela broke off diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia and placed its troops along the border on alert Friday as the leaders of South America battled to defuse the crisis.

President Hugo Chavez called an emergency meeting of Venezuela's defense council after formally breaking ties Thursday with Bogota over accusations that Caracas has provided a safe haven to hundreds of leftist guerrillas.

"I announce with a heavy heart: Venezuela breaks off from this moment all relations with the government of Colombia," Chavez told reporters, as he put forces on the border with Colombia on alert.

Chavez said outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, who made the accusations of rebels in Venezuela, is capable of using the pretext of rebel camps "to attack us and cause a war."

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro issued a 72-hour deadline for Colombia to withdraw its diplomats from Venezuela and shut its embassy. Venezuela will also close its embassy in Bogota, he added.

The announcement marked a fresh spike in tensions between the South American neighbors, which nearly went to war in 2008 over a Colombian military raid into Ecuador to destroy a cross-border rebel camp.

Venezuela called for Ecuador, which holds the rotating presidency of regional body Unasur, to call an emergency meeting of foreign ministers to "denounce the serious attacks from the Colombian government against (Venezuelan) sovereignty."

Ecuador's President Rafael Correa said he would seek a meeting of leaders from Unasur and offered to use his good offices to help resolve the row.

In Brazil, President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva called Chavez to express his concern and to urge "a diplomatic solution," a spokesman for Lula said.

Bolivian President Evo Morales meanwhile defended Chavez and called the Colombian leader a "lackey of imperialism."

UN chief Ban Ki-moon urged both sides to avoid further escalation, expressing hope the neighbors could smooth out their differences through dialogue.

The US State Department said Chavez's decision to cut ties was not the "proper way" to raise concerns.

Also in Washington, Colombian diplomats alleged before the Organization of American States that some 1,500 rebels fighting the Bogota government were operating in more than 80 camps in Venezuela and called for an international commission to investigate.

The Colombian representative to the OAS, Luis Hoyos, told the Washington-based body that Bogota has evidence of "the consolidated, active and growing presence of these terrorist bands in the brother country of Venezuela."

Showing graphic photos of victims of attacks he said were carried out by Venezuelan-based guerrillas, Hoyos said Caracas must "accept its obligation" to bar the rebels from its territory.

Chavez said his government "pursued and harassed" the guerrillas, adding that "if there was a Colombian guerrilla camp (in Venezuela), it would be without authority" of his government.

Colombia, Washington's staunchest ally in the region, and Venezuela, a leftist Cuban ally that has used its oil wealth to accumulate an arsenal of modern Russian warplanes and weapons, have frequently quarreled over the past few years.

Chavez's latest decision to break ties came in response to Uribe's charge that rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgency group were using Venezuela as a rear base.

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

A mutual loathing between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe -- who steps down on August 7 to be succeeded by his former defense minister Juan Manuel Santos -- has also aggravated the situation.

From Mexico, Santos said he would defer comment on the crisis until he assumes the presidency next month.

Story by Beatriz Lecumberri from AFP
AFP 07/23/2010 09:18

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