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<font size=3>Thursday, July 22, 2010 <br><br>
23:30 Mecca time, 20:30 GMT <br><br>
</font><font size=4><b>Venezuela cuts ties with Colombia <br>
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<a href="http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/2010722153742742163.html" eudora="autourl">
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2010/07/2010722153742742163.html<br>
<br>
</a>Venezuela has broken off diplomatic relations with Colombia after
Bogota charged that leftist guerrilla leaders it is fighting are in
Venezuela, Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has said.<br>
<br>
"I announce with a tear in the heart: Venezuela breaks off from this
moment all relations with the government of Colombia," Chavez told
journalists at the presidential palace on Thursday.<br><br>
"We have no other choice but, out of dignity, to totally break our
relations with our brother nation of Colombia," the president said
live on state television, as he hosted a visit by Argentine soccer star
Diego Maradona.<br><br>
Nicolas Maduro,Venezuela's foreign minister, declared immediately
afterwards that Colombia had 72 hours to withdraw its diplomats in
Venezuela and close its embassy.<br><br>
Earlier, Colombia's foreign ministry had said that Maria Luisa Chiappe,
its ambassador to Caracas, Venezuela's capital, would be called back to
Bogota "to evaluate the situation".<br><br>
At an emergency meeting of the Washington-based Organisation of American
States (OAS), Luis Alfonso Hoyos, a Colombian diplomat, presented
evidence that he said suggests Venezuela was harbouring Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) rebels.<br><br>
<b>Killings and kidnappings<br><br>
</b>Hoyos accused Chavez's government of tolerating the rebels who he
said carried out killings, kidnappings and drug-trafficking on both sides
of the long frontier.<br><br>
"The continent cannot allow this nightmare to spread," Hoyos
said.<br><br>
But Roy Chaderton, Venezuela's ambassador, rejected the Colombian
presentation as a "lie", saying: "There is no evidence, no
proof, these are photos taken I don't know where."<br><br>
Hoyos went on to show a series of photos and videos of alleged Farc
leaders and guerrillas relaxing, roasting pigs and playing a piano at
camps he said were well inside Venezuela.<br><br>
<b>"Given the past history on this issue, the most likely outcome is
going to be stonewalling, postponement, setting up a committee to
investigate the matter,"<br><br>
</b>Larry Burns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs,
Washington<br><br>
"Facts over recent weeks show that real risks are materialising due
to the consolidated, active and growing presence of these terrorist
groups in Venezuela," Hoyos said.<br><br>
He added that the Venezuelan authorities "tolerate the presence of
these groups, they don't carry out actions against them".<br><br>
Sometimes the rebels are even accompanied by members of Venezuela's
National Guard, Hoyos added.<br><br>
Farc rebels carried out cross-border attacks from Venezuela as recently
as June and July, Hoyos said as he showed photographs of civilian and
military victims of these attacks.<br><br>
The ambassador's remarks came a week after Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's
outgoing president who leaves office in August, said his government had
evidence that five leaders of leftist guerrilla groups were in
Venezuela.<br><br>
Uribe's office is contending the rebel leaders in Venezuela include four
senior members of Farc and one from the smaller National Liberation Army
(ELN).<br><br>
Both rebel movements have been waging an armed campaign against the
Colombian government since the mid-1960s.<br><br>
Larry Burns, director of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs in
Washington, told Al Jazeera that "some people believe [Alvaro] Uribe
wants to shape the future of Colombia's foreign policy and maintain a
policy of hositility towards Venezuela".<br><br>
<b>Uribe accusations<br><br>
</b>"Uribe is the one who disclosed and made the accusation that
Venezuelans have taken in Farc guerrillas and have provided them with
hospitality. The incoming president [Juan Manuel Santos] hasn't made
those charges," he said.<br><br>
Burns added that it was "unlikely" that the OAS would take any
decisive action on the matter.<br><br>
"There are a number of countries in the OAS who are very favourable
to Hugo Chavez and that includes Argentina, which is a very important
country in Latin America," he said.<br><br>
"Given the past history on this issue, the most likely outcome is
going to be stonewalling, postponement, setting up a committee to
investigate the matter, but there's going to be an effort to shun any
clear confrontation because of the fact that the evidence is questionable
and the motivation is even more questionable."<br><br>
Colombia and Venezuela cut diplomatic ties last year after Bogota and the
US signed a military co-operation agreement that Chavez considered a
threat to regional security.<br><br>
Chavez has accused Uribe of trying to thwart a normalisation of relations
when the Colombian leader leaves office August 7.<br><br>
Uribe, who has had tense relations with his Venezuelan counterpart, will
be succeeded by Juan Manuel Santos, his former defence minister, who has
signalled a less hostile approach to Venezuela.<br>
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies <br><br>
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