“The government of Colombia is capable of provoking a war with Venezuela to justify a US intervention in Venezuela,” Chávez said on his weekly program “Aló Presidente.”He warned Colombian President Álvaro Uribe: “think closely about how far you can go, and I publicly urge you a moment of reflection.”Chávez and Uribe locked horns in March after a Colombian military attack on a Colombian rebel camp inside Ecuador – a leftist ally of Venezuela – triggered a week-long row that sent Ecuadoran and Venezuelan troops to their borders with Colombia.Chávez and Uribe have also sparred over mediation attempts to get some 40 prominent hostages of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia released, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.Chávez, a populist and virulently anti-American president, has also condemned what he calls US interference in Venezuela and alleged US-led plots to overthrow him.”I issue an alert to the continent, the Venezuelan people, the armed forces over the Colombian government’s intention to provoke a war against us,” Chávez said.”This has been planned and (the war) would come by way of the (western) states of Zulia and Tachira. They’ve been playing for time and making their plans.”It would be a war in which the paramilitaries would play a role of penetration and intelligence,” Chávez said, allegedly referring to Colombia’s right-wing paramilitary forces.Colombia and the United States have previously dismissed similar statements by Chávez.
1.2K
