OAS
Urges Colombia, Venezuela To Avoid
Mutual Retaliation
San José - The
Organization of American States (OAS)
Wednesday urged the Colombian and Venezuelan
governments to avoid mutual retaliation,
which was sparked by Bogota's accusation
against Caracas of weapon supplies to
Colombian rebel groups.
OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza
called on Colombian President Alvaro Uribe
and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to
settle the conflict through dialogues.
Insulza made the remarks at the 11th Tuxtla
Summit of presidents and heads of state from
the Dialogue and Agreement Mechanism being
held in Costa Rica.
Venezuela on Tuesday withdrew its ambassador
in Bogota, after Colombia accused Caracas of
selling weapons to Colombian rebel group the
Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
Insulza regretted that Venezuela had frozen
diplomatic ties with Colombia.
He said the problems should be solved
through dialogue and negotiation, and that
the OAS was ready to offer its help if
necessary.
The Colombian government said a batch of
Swedish-made weapons bought by Venezuela
during the 1980s had ended up in the hands
of the FARC, which has been fighting the
Colombian government for more than four
decades.
Colombia also presented a document to
Venezuela last month about two FARC leaders'
claim that three Venezuelan senior officials
had provided the rebel group with similar
weapons as the Swedish ones. Those weapons
were subsequently confiscated by the
Colombian police.
"We are not going to accept this
irresponsibility," Chavez said on Tuesday,
calling the accusation a "big manipulation."
The Venezuelan leader also threatened to
halt all trade agreements with the Colombian
government "if there's one more accusation
against Venezuela."
The spat further raised tensions between the
two neighboring countries after Chavez
previously called a stronger military
relationship between Colombia and the United
States a threat to his country.
Colombia announced earlier this month that
the United States would use three bases in
Colombia to fight drug trafficking in the
country.
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