Chavez blames US for crisis

2005-01-24 13:09

Caracas, Venezuela - Thousands of demonstrators backed President Hugo Chavez, who on Sunday accused US and Colombian officials of provoking a diplomatic crisis between the Caribbean neighbours.

"I know where this provocation comes from: from Washington, not from Bogota!" Chavez said before a crowd of cheering supporters.

Chavez said on Sunday that the United States was behind Colombia's arrest, on Venezuelan territory, of a Colombian rebel, triggering a diplomatic crisis with Bogota.

A commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), Rodrigo Granada, was arrested in Caracas on December 13.

"This Granada thing was not planned by Bogota," Chavez said.

Chavez also criticized his counterpart, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, for "not having a moment" to address Chavez's charges.

Last week, Chavez demanded an explanation and said he would freeze business between the two countries, which have a free-trade agreement. On Sunday, he threatened to freeze bilateral projects.

"It is up to the Colombian government to admit to its error," Chavez said told a crowd of supporters.

Chavez repeated a threat of cancelling several bilateral infrastructure projects.

Open and frank

"I am not going to have open and frank relations with a government that does not recognise the error that a group of its officials has committed.

"I have ordered several measures be cancelled: the international bridge, the bi-national oil pipeline and highways.

"Bi-national trade will drop to a minimum," Chavez told the crowd.

Pro-government demonstrators demanded respect for Venezuelan sovereignty as they walked several kilometres through the capital and rejected any part the United States played in the capture of the rebel leader.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said the march was meant to back the economic integration of Colombia and Venezuela "in the face of the manoeuvres of Washington and of Colombia's oligarchy, which Uribe's government favours."

He said that Washington exhibits "deliberate, aggressive conduct toward Venezuela," pointing to a US State Department document that criticizes Caracas in the diplomatic dust-up.

Incoming secretary of state Condoleezza Rice has expressed her support for Colombia in the matter and said on Tuesday that Chavez was a "negative force" in the region.

The president of Venezuela's National Assembly, Nicolas Maduro, said on Saturday the White House was behind the armed conflict in Colombia and linked the United States to an international plan to isolate Chavez in the region.

Colombia's leftist rebels and rightist paramilitary armies have at times taken refuge in Venezuelan territory. Uribe, a rightist, has accused Chavez, a leftist, of sympathizing with the rebels.

The two countries have had contentious relations and a long-simmering dispute over a border that could determine access to oil fields.

- AFP