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BBC MUNDO RADIO
CARACAS, July 24 (Xinhua) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Thursday his country would cut off diplomatic relations with Colombia after tension escalated last week over the activities of Colombian rebels. It was followed by a notice from the Foreign Ministry ordering shutdown of the Colombian embassy in Caracas and immediate withdrawal of Venezuelan diplomatic staff within 72 hours. Claiming Colombia was preparing for war against Venezuela, Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Chavez had asked his Ecuadorian counterpart Rafael Correa, the rotating chair of the Union of South American Countries (Unasur), to call an urgent meeting of the bloc's foreign ministers to discuss the issue. Tensions between the two South American neighbors have been rising with Colombia accusing Venezuela of sheltering Colombian guerrilla chiefs, and Venezuela firmly denying it. Chavez's move, which indicated long-strained Venezuela-Colombia relations finally broke down, drew immediate attention from the international community, especially Latin American countries. SUDDEN DECISION "For dignity, we do not have another option but to sever diplomatic ties with Colombia," Chavez declared at a meeting with Argentine soccer legend Diego Maradona at the Miracles Palace that houses the Venezuelan government on Thursday. He said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was prepared to do anything to launch a conflict with Venezuela. "Uribe is a threat to peace. He is even able to establish a faked camp in our territory and raid it to start a war," Chavez said. Chavez's decision was made after Colombia presented to the Organization of American States (OAS) what he said was proof Colombian rebel chiefs were hiding in Venezuelan territory during an extraordinary meeting of the organization's Permanent Council on Thursday. Colombia accused Venezuela of "allowing the presence of Colombian guerrillas in its territory," and urged the international community to form a commission to verify the presence of guerrillas in Venezuela in no more than 30 days. Colombian Ambassador to the OAS Luis Alfonso Hoyos said Venezuela had done nothing to stop the "1,500 Colombian guerrillas" operating in its territory. Chavez's decision to sever ties with Colombia was immediately supported by the National Assembly, the Venezuelan legislature. The assembly's president, Cilia Flores, told reporters Venezuela had taken concrete action several times to avoid breaking off ties with Colombia, but Uribe "has failed and goes through the back door." "We hope to resume ties with the Colombian people, with whom we have strong ties," Flores said. President of the National Electoral Council Tibisay Lucena also backed Chavez's decisio, saying Colombian observers would not come to his country for the coming legislative elections on Sept. 26. LONGTIME FEUD Chavez recalled his diplomats from Colombia in July 2009, the third such measure since 2005 when tensions grew high over the arrest of a guerrilla leader from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in Caracas. The two countries nearly went to war in March 2008 after a Colombian bombing raid on a guerrilla camp in Ecuador, prompting Chavez to protest the move by cutting diplomatic ties with Bogota. Chavez suspended bilateral trade last year after Colombia agreed to allow U.S. troops more access to its military bases. Last week, Venezuela recalled its ambassador to Bogota a day after Colombia accused Caracas of "tolerating" the presence of guerrillas and said the rebels use Venezuelan jungles to launch attacks against Colombia. Maduro, the Venezuelan foreign minister, said the ambassador had been given an "official protest letter rejecting the lies and falsehoods put forward by the government of President Alvaro Uribe." INTERNATIONAL REACTIONS The office of Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said he would pay a visit to Venezuela and Colombia in early August in a bid to break the impasse. Martin Nesirky, spokesman for UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, said Ban urged Colombia and Venezuela to iron out their differences through dialogue. "He calls for restraint by all involved so that the situation can be resolved in a peaceful manner," Nesirky said in a statement. Jose Miguel Insulza, the OAS general secretary, called on Colombia and Venezuela to be calm and pleaded for them to resume ties soon. "I make a call to them to calm down and seek a way out of their differences," Insulza said Thursday after the OAS extraordinary meeting. Insulza said he hoped that "after a short period of time, both countries resume dialogue and solve the problems." Netor Kirchner, the Unasur secretary general, said he would support the "mediation" work between Venezuela and Colombia. Ecuador's Correa said he was seeking a meeting of leaders from the Unasur regional bloc to help resolve the row. However, U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told reporters in Washington that Chavez's decision to sever all diplomatic relations with Colombia and put border troops on alert was "a petulant response." Venezuelan analyst Beatriz Mago said the decision would undoubtedly take a toll on bilateral and regional politics, economy and culture. In the first half of this year, bilateral trade between Venezuela and Colombia plunged by some 68 percent. The stagnation has slowed Colombia's economic recovery, raised Venezuela's inflation rate and led to a rising unemployment rate along border areas of the two countries.
