General

Venezuela mulls break with Colombia

Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez says he is preparing to break off diplomatic ties with Colombia over Bogota’s plan to give US troops access to its military bases.

“There’s no possibility” of repairing relations with the government of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, Chavez said in a state broadcast on Tuesday.

“It’s going to happen. Let’s get ready… it just isn’t possible to make up,” he added.

Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have been tense since Bogota entered into negotiations with the United States to allow its troops to operate from seven Colombian bases through a 10-year lease agreement.

Uribe’s US-backed government claims that the deal is only an extension of an existing cooperation with Washington to weed out drug smugglers and leftist guerillas.

Chavez, however, believes the deal is an expansion of the US military presence in the region and it could lead to war in South America.

The development comes one day before a regional summit in Argentina where South American leaders will discuss the US-Colombia security pact.

The deal is already under fire for proposing immunity for the US military personnel in Colombia.

Many other South American countries have also voiced concern over the deal, saying that Washington is using the regional war on drugs as a pretext to boost its regional military presence.

Latin Americans are wary of a US presence in the region, remembering past decades when administrations in Washington gave support to right-wing military dictatorships.

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