Colombia Reports

The Colombian government is using the tensions with Venezuela to increase its popularity in the lead up to the 2010 elections, Opposition Senator and 'Colombians for Peace' leader Piedad Cordoba said Wednesday.

According to Cordoba the government "needs" an atmosphere of conflict with Venezuela "in order to win the elections next year," Terra reported Wednesday.

Cordoba thinks that the government is using the spat with Venezuela as "a smoke screen to cover the problems the country has, such as poverty and corruption".

The Opposition Sentor said she believes there is a strategy in place "to decontextualize and disqualify Chavez and depict him as a monster".

Tensions have been running high with Venezuela, since Chavez's announcement last weekend that his country's people and army should be prepared for war with Colombia.The Venezuelan President had also announced he was sending 15,000 troops to the border.

Chavez changed his tone Wednesday, claiming he had been misinterpreted.

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Comments (3)

tomtom33 said:

	... And Piedad is using the FARC to further her political and Nobel aspirations. Isn't that what politicians do?
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November 12, 2009
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Bluebird said:

	... Does anybody here think that maybe that's what chavez is using Colombia for?? over and over again. It's gotten to the point that no one pays much attention to him. His relevance diminishes almost daily.
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November 12, 2009
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gringomedeliin said:

	... Well then she needs to tell her friend Chavez to keep his mouth shut then the government can't do what she is accusing them of doing. The best thing she can to for Colombia is resign
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November 12, 2009
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