Venezuela/Colombia

Chavez suspends diplomatic ties with Colombia

Article published on the 2009-07-29 Latest update 2009-07-29 13:44 TU

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has frozen ties with Colombia
(Photo: Reuters)

Venezuela President Hugo Chavez has suspended diplomatic relations with neighbouring Colombia following a recent rise in tension between the two countries

On Monday, Bogota said it had captured weapons from Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) guerrillas that had been made in Sweden and sold to Venezuela.

Chavez said the accusations were "without proof".

Colombia also annoyed Venezuela recently by agreeing to allow the United States to use military bases to conduct anti-drug operations.

"In view of this new aggression by the government of Colombia I have ordered the withdrawal of our ambassador to Bogota," Chavez said on state television. "We will freeze relations with Colombia."

Chavez said that Colombian-owned operations in Venezuela could be seized, a move that would threaten billions of dollars in trade.

He also warned that Venezuela would suspend Colombian imports to his country, which official data show amounted to 1.85 billion euros in the first half of 2009.

"With the next aggression against Venezuela, we will simply break relations with the Colombian government on all fronts," he said.

Venezuela and Colombia nearly went to war last year after Colombian forces raided a Farc camp just across the border with Ecuador in late March 2008. Bogota claims to have found evidence that Chavez had links to both the Farc and the illegal drug trade.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman completed his ten-day tour of Latin American with a stop in Colombia.

Lieberman, whose trip was primarily aimed at countering Tehran's growing influence in the region, vowed greater future involvement by his country across south America.

"We think that today Israel must be more and more active in this continent,” said  Lieberman.