Venezuela suspends diplomatic,
commercial ties with Colombia
Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez on Friday froze his
country's diplomatic and
commercial relations with
Colombia and said they will not
be resumed until Bogota
apologizes for "the abduction of
a Colombian rebel leader from
Venezuela."
"With much pain I have recalled
the ambassador in Bogota and he
will not return until the
Colombian government offers us
apologies," said Chavez before
the congress with regard to the
presumed kidnapping of Rodrigo
Granda, a top member of the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of
Colombia (FARC), in Caracas last
December.
"I was forced to take this
decision until the sovereignty
of Venezuela is vindicated," he
stressed.
"What happened has no
justification. Mr. President
Alvaro Uribe (of Colombia),
because of our friendship, and
on behalf of our children and
nations: I don't believe you
knew about this operation which
has violated the sovereignty of
the Venezuelan people," Chavez
added.
The Venezuelan president also
said he has ordered to stop the
implementation of all agreements
and business deals with
Colombia.
The suspension of commercial
relations includes the closure
of a gas-pipeline which sends
fuel to northern Colombia from
northwestern Venezuela.
According to Chavez, Colombian
agents and five Venezuelan
members of the military
participated in the kidnapping.
However, Bogota said Granda was
captured in the Colombian city
of Cucuta on the border with
Venezuela.
The FARC is the largest rebel
group in Colombia, having 17,000
combatants.
Brazil to help clear landmines
in tsunami-hit countries
Brazil will participate in
the operations clearing
anti-personnel mines in some
Asian countries affected by the
Dec. 26 tsunamis in the Indian
Ocean, military sources said
Friday.
The head of the Institutional
Security Cabinet Jorge Felix
said Brazil will send military
experts to help in the demining
operations.
"Mines are extremely dangerous
for the civilian, and we will
offer equipment to dismantle
them," he said, adding that "we
will also provide medical
services and construction
materials."
Felix, who represented the
Brazilian government to attend a
meeting at Geneva, Switzerland,
on assistance for the countries
affected by the tsunamis, said
Brazil could send a planeload
and four ships of humanitarian
aid every week.
Survivors in some Asian
countries, who have been haunted
by sorrow of losing their
beloved and properties, worries
of possible spread of diseases,
are facing a new danger -- the
displaced landmines by the tidal
waves.
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Mexico defuses tensions in
prison housing top drug lords
Mexico has restored security
in a prison housing the nation's
most notorious drug lords and
kidnappers, security officials
said Friday.
With the aid of 750 soldiers and
police, prison guards have
brought the prison in La Palma
outside Mexico city under
control, the officials said.
The prison had seen a series of
murders recently and prison
authorities declared a state of
alert in view of the high risk
of violence within the walls and
a prison break.
Deputy Security Minister Miguel
Angel Yunez has told reporters
that federal agents found
weapons, drugs, cell phones
inside the prison cells.
Among the inmates are Benjamin
Arellano Felix, the supposed
head of a powerful family cartel
in the border town of Tijuana,
and Osiel Cardenas, leader of
the Gulf cartel on the border
across from Texas.
The two men will be extradited
to the United States, and
Cardenas was recently rumored to
be planning an escape.
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