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Chavez freezes ties with Colombia | Chavez freezes ties with Colombia |
(about 10 hours later) | |
Venezuela is withdrawing its ambassador from neighbouring Colombia and freezing relations, following a dispute over weapons supplied to Colombian rebels. | Venezuela is withdrawing its ambassador from neighbouring Colombia and freezing relations, following a dispute over weapons supplied to Colombian rebels. |
President Hugo Chavez, who announced the move on Venezuelan TV, also said he was halting trade deals with Colombia. | President Hugo Chavez, who announced the move on Venezuelan TV, also said he was halting trade deals with Colombia. |
The announcement came a day after the Colombia government said weapons bought by Venezuela from Sweden in the 1980s had ended up with Colombian guerrillas. | |
Mr Chavez denied this and accused Colombia of acting "irresponsibly". | Mr Chavez denied this and accused Colombia of acting "irresponsibly". |
"I've ordered to withdraw our ambassador from Bogota," the Venezuelan leader said on Tuesday. "We will freeze relations with Colombia," he added. | "I've ordered to withdraw our ambassador from Bogota," the Venezuelan leader said on Tuesday. "We will freeze relations with Colombia," he added. |
As well as a diplomatic freeze, Mr Chavez warned trade relations would also be frozen and raised the possibility of expropriating Colombian companies. | |
Venezuela, he said, would also substitute imports from Colombia - which currently account for about a third of the country's trade - with goods from other countries, notably Brazil and Ecuador. | |
Bilateral trade between the two countries was set to run to some $5bn (£3bn) this year, according to the Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber of Economic Integration (Cavecol). | |
Cavecol has appealed to both governments to conduct a "frank and sincere" dialogue and to maintain not only commercial but also "diplomatic, political and social ties," the Spanish news agency Efe reported. | |
'Israel of Latin America' | |
On Monday, the Colombian government said its troops had recovered Swedish anti-tank weapons in a raid on a camp run by the Marxist rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or Farc. | |
Rebels have been at war with the Colombian state since the 1960s | |
And at the weekend, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the Farc had obtained rocket-launchers on international arms markets. | |
Mr Chavez, denying that Venezuela armed "any guerrilla group or armed group", accused Mr Uribe of behaving irresponsibly with his "unfounded" accusations. | |
The Swedish authorities have launched an inquiry into how the Farc acquired the weapons. | |
The guerrillas have been fighting the Bogota government since the 1960s. | |
The BBC's Will Grant in Caracas said the dispute between the two neighbours comes as Colombia prepares to allow the US to use four of its military bases, a move which has angered Venezuela. | |
Colombia says the accord will give the US military access to air bases to gather intelligence and support operations against drugs production and terrorism. | |
But Mr Chavez says it is part of an effort by Washington to turn Colombia into the "Israel of Latin America". | |
Relations between the two South American nations have been difficult in recent years. | |
In March 2008, Venezuela moved troops to its border after Colombian forces raided a Farc camp just inside Ecuador. | |
Both Ecuador and Venezuela cut off diplomatic ties with Colombia at the time, although Mr Chavez subsequently restored ties. |