Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Wednesday vehemently denied having
sold weapons to Colombia’s largest rebel group FARC,adding Uribe is
nothing more than a toy of U.S. politics.
According to the Venezuelan Head of State, the rocket launchers and automatic rifles were found in a Colombian rebel camp never were given or sold to the FARC, but stolen from a Venezuelan naval post 14 years ago.
Chavez claimed Venezuelan authorities also found arms of Colombia’s military in the hands of an alleged paramilitary on Venezuelan territory.
“With
this seizure we could have made a scandal like Uribe did with the
rocket launchers but our government is not a shame like the Colombian
[government],” Chavez said referring to Uribe’s denunciation last week the FARC was armed with Swedish-made rocket launchers that were initially sold to Venezuela.
Chavez described the allegations as “a dirty and perfidious game, a stab in the back”, local media reported.
“It
is no coincidence that this has been brought up by the Colombian
authorities when we were raising our voice against the Yankee bases on
Colombian territory,” the Venezuelan president said.
Chavez warned that the agreement between Colombia and the United States to allow U.S. army to operate from seven military bases on Colombian territory “could start a war in South America. The Yankees are the most aggressive nation in the history of mankind.”
The Venezuelan president reiterated his disagreement of the U.S. military presence in
Colombia by saying “Venezuela is a friend of the whole world but I will
never allow the Yankees to enter our territory.
Chavez said he called on ambassador Gustavo Marquez
to review all relations with Colombia. “We have the right to do it. We
feel threatened and it is good that Colombia knows it.”
Venezuelan President
Hugo Chavez considers the presence of U.S. military in Colombia as a
“threat” and as a sign of protest froze all diplomatic relations with Colombia and theatens to suspend all trade with Venezuela’s neighbor.