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New Knots for Colombia's
Ties With Venezuela,
Ecuador
In the past two
years, Colombia's ties with its two neighbors,
Venezuela and Ecuador, have been subject to several
twists and turns.
Now, new troubles appear to lie ahead as Colombia is
planning four new U.S. military bases near
Colombia's border with Venezuela. Moreover, the
Colombian government said it had video evidence of
Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's links with
Colombian rebels.
On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez voiced
strong opposition to Colombia's plan to permit
construction of four new U.S. military bases on
Colombian territory.
"They are surrounding Venezuela with military
bases," Chavez said in a televised speech.
The plan, which was also interpreted by Latin
America as an increase of U.S. military presence in
the region, was called "a threat" against Venezuela
by Chavez. He noted that it "obliges us to review
our relations" with Colombia.
Colombia is opening its doors "to those who
constantly attack us and to those who are getting
ready new attacks against us," he said.
However, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the
plan was designed to boost Bogota's anti-terror and
anti-drug efforts.
The dispute between Caracas and Bogota over the
military bases was a new setback for normalizing
bilateral relations.
Sharing a border line of some 2,200 km, tensions
between the two countries have mounted time and
again in recent years. Relations had soured
especially since Uribe abruptly called a halt to
Chavez's mediation role in the efforts to release
the hostages taken by the Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC) in November 2007, as the
Venezuelan leader had allegedly broken their
agreement.
Chavez responded by withdrawing the Venezuelan
ambassador from Bogota, saying Colombia "deserves a
better president."
Despite his verbal clashes with Uribe, Chavez helped
to facilitate the unilateral release of several
high-profile hostages who had been held by the FARC
for several years in early 2008.
But in early March, when the Colombian army launched
a cross-border attack against the FARC on Ecuadorian
territory, the Caracas-Bogota ties were complicated
yet again, although the tension later eased at a Rio
Group summit.
Their relationship hit another low in May 2008, with
Colombia accusing Chavez of giving financial and
military support to the FARC, and Venezuela charging
that the Colombian troops had crossed into
Venezuelan territory.
Each side, however, has denied the other's charges.
Yet a lengthy meeting between Uribe and Chavez in
Miraflores Place in the Venezuelan capital on April
14, 2009, was a positive sign that relations were
improving.
During the meeting, they discussed and exchanged
opinions on political and economic issues. Five
agreements on cooperation were signed.
The rocky relationship between Ecuador and Colombia
is becoming increasingly complex because of the
FARC. Bogota asserted on Sunday that it has sent a
copy of a video, in which a top FARC leader said the
group gave financial support to Correa in the 2006
presidential campaign, to the Organization of
American States (OAS) and Interpol.
Correa has denied that he has ever received any
funds from the FARC. He said such accusations were
"fake" and called them attacks from the conservative
forces on the continent against his government.
"They want to take me to the International Penal
Court for being a terrorist in order to mask the
true terrorists, the drug trafficking-politicians
and the para-politicians," Correa said.
Other Ecuadorian officials confirmed that the video
was edited and lacked credibility.
The Ecuadorian government severed ties with Colombia
in March 2008 after the Colombian army's
cross-border raid against a FARC camp on the
Ecuadorian territory, saying such a move violated
Ecuador's sovereignty.
Uribe later accused Ecuador of harboring terrorists,
while Correa called Uribe a dictator.
Earlier this month, Ecuador asked Interpol to arrest
Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's defense minister at
the time of the cross-border raid. But Interpol
refused to do so.
Correa on Saturday called the FARC video Colombia's
"revenge" against his government for seeking Santo's
arrest.
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