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LATIN AMERICA |
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Uribe Says Venezuela Has ‘Berlin Wall’ With
Colombia
By Alexander Cuadros, Bloomberg
BOGOTA - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe
said Venezuela has put up an illegal trade
embargo that is becoming a “Berlin Wall,”
cutting off the South American neighbors.
“People have complained so much about the
embargo against Cuba, and now Venezuela has
an embargo against Colombia,” Uribe said,
according to the transcript of a radio
interview posted today on the presidential
Web site. “And what worries me, because it
generates distrust, is that other countries
have taken the opportunity to go to the
Venezuelan market and substitute Colombian
products.”
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said in
July he was “freezing” ties with his
second-biggest trading partner and would do
away with Colombian imports as Uribe moved
ahead with a plan to allow the U.S. military
access to seven Colombian bases. The
following month Argentina agreed to send
Venezuela $1 billion in goods, including
10,000 cars originally slated to come from
Colombia.
Tensions worsened last month after
Venezuelan soldiers blew up two foot bridges
along the shared border. Venezuelan General
Eusebio Aguero said last week troops plan to
destroy six more such bridges on suspicion
they’re being used to traffic drugs and
contraband. Colombia says they’re community
crossings.
‘Sealing Off’
“Chavez has deliberately tried to downgrade
the bilateral relationship on the economic
side and politically,” Peter DeShazo,
director of the Americas program at the
Center for Strategic and International
Studies in Washington, said in a phone
interview. “But in terms of sealing off the
border, that would be difficult to do.”
Trade between the two countries last year
totaled about $7 billion. In September,
Colombian exports to Venezuela fell 50
percent from the same month a year earlier,
according to the national statistics agency.
The Colombian peso fell 2.5 percent to 2,075
per dollar on July 29, the day the freeze
was announced. The currency has since
recovered, climbing to 1,993 per dollar at
today’s close.
The plunge in sales to Venezuela has
hindered Colombia’s economic recovery and
increased unemployment, according to the
central bank. Uribe said Colombia is seeking
new markets to counteract that slowdown.
“We have faith that we’re taking off in
important economies such as Brazil’s,
Chile’s, in Central America, in the
Caribbean, in Asia,” he said.
Colombia is taking steps to secure free
trade agreements with countries including
the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea
and Australia, according to the trade
ministry. Accords with several Central
American and European countries went into
effect this year.
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