Colombia-Venezuela Ties
Strained By Mutual
Accusations
Colombia's relations
with Venezuela sank to a
new low Thursday after
President Alvaro Uribe
asked his Venezuelan
counterpart Hugo Chavez
to stop meddling and
"attacking" Colombia
while Chavez accused
Uribe of being "obsessed
with war."
"The Colombian
government asks
President Hugo Chavez to
stop attacking our
country," Colombian
Foreign Minister
Fernando Araujo said
Wednesday, reading from
a formal protest note.
Chavez "does not miss a
chance to mistreat
Colombia and its
government," and he
"confuses cooperation
with interference,"
Araujo said.
"He ignores the
guerrillas' acts of
terrorism, their
involvement in drug
trafficking, among
others," he said.
In response, Venezuela's
Foreign Ministry
Thursday accused Uribe
of not being committed
to peace in his country.
"The Colombian
government is not
committed to peace, it
is obsessed with war and
defeating insurgent
forces by military
means," Caracas'
statement said.
Rebels of Colombia's
Revolutionary Armed
Forces (FARC) last
Thursday handed over two
woman hostages, Clara
Rojas and Consuelo
Gonzalez, to an
international mission
led by Venezuela.
Chavez acted as a
mediator in the release
of Rojas and Gonzalez,
who spent more than six
years in captivity in
the Colombian jungle.
"La W" radio in Bogota
reported FARC would soon
announce, in Venezuela,
the handover of more
hostages.
The "La W" report said
one of three U.S.
contractors kidnapped in
2003 and four other
seriously ill captives
were among the hostages
FARC plans to release.
However, Venezuelan
Foreign Minister Nicolas
Maduro said he hadno
information on this.
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