Colombian Senator Tells Chavez: 'Open Your
Eyes!'
By Hugh Bronstein
Bogota (Reuters) - Colombia's diplomatic
spat with Venezuela took a new turn this
week with a series of billboards in Bogota
showing pictures of Hugo Chavez, the leader
of the neighboring country, with his eyes
closed.
"Hey!", the billboards say, "Open your
eyes!"
For years Colombia has asked the self-styled
socialist revolutionary to do more to help
combat Marxist Colombian guerrillas widely
despised in the country for their violence
and use of kidnapping.
But relations between the countries have
only worsened.
Chavez accuses Colombian conservative
President Alvaro Uribe and the United States
of planning an invasion of Venezuela in a
bid to take over the OPEC-member country's
vast oil reserves. Both countries dismiss
the claim.
Colombian Senator Armando Benedetti, an
Uribe loyalist, organized the publicity
campaign to rally Colombians around their
government as South American leaders gather
for a summit in Argentina on Friday.
Chavez and leftist Ecuadorean leader Rafael
Correa have blasted Colombia for negotiating
a plan with Washington to increase U.S.
military cooperation as part of a
long-standing alliance against cocaine
traffickers and Marxist guerrillas.
Correa is also featured on some of the
billboards. He broke diplomatic ties with
Colombia last year after the Colombian
military bombed a rebel camp on Ecuador's
side of the border.
Colombia accuses Chavez and Correa of not
cooperating in its fight against
drug-running insurgents. Both leaders have
shunned Washington while strengthening ties
with China, Russia and Iran.
Chavez has attacked Colombia as a "narco-state,"
ordered probes of Colombian companies in
Venezuela and urged his supporters to reach
out to left-leaning Colombian politicians.
Colombia on Wednesday filed a complaint
against Chavez with the Organization of
American States, accusing him of meddling in
its affairs. This followed a scandal in
which Venezuela was accused of providing
rockets to Colombia's biggest rebel army,
known as the FARC. |
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