Chavez warns Bogota of cutting ties

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has warned Colombia of cutting ties “within next few hours” after Bogota accused him of sheltering the rebels in his country.

“If they keep up this craziness, in the next few hours I will break relations with Colombia,” Chavez said in a broadcast.

The Venezuelan president said on Friday that for personal safety reasons he will not attend inauguration of Colombia’s newly elected president, Juan Manuel Santos, on August 7. He called on Santos to distance himself from the outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

Colombia’s outgoing President Alvaro Uribe said on Thursday it can prove that members of Colombian guerrilla groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, are hiding in a jungle on Venezuela’s side of the border.

Chavez has called “Uribe’s allegations” a smear campaign aimed at hurting ties between the two countries.

Two years ago, a Colombian raid on a FARC camp in Ecuador led to troop movements by Caracas, raising the specter of war in the Andean region. Tensions flared again last year.

Relations between Venezuela and the conservative government of Colombia have deteriorated over the last two years because of spillover from Colombia’s decades-long civil conflict and accusations Chavez helps the leftist rebels.