Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Tuesday he would review ties with
Colombia after Bogota agreed to host “US bases” in the country.
“Now that the gringos want to set up four bases in Colombia… it
forces us to revise our relations with Colombia,” Chavez said on a
state television station.
The Colombian government recently announced a deal allowing US troops to operate from Colombian military facilities.
Chavez
said the deal was a “threat” to Venezuela which “opened the door to our
constant attackers and those preparing fresh aggressions against us.”
The
deal comes after Ecuador, whose President Rafael Correa has become a
close ally of Chavez, evicted the United States from a military base
there, which was key to US anti-drug operations.
Relations between staunchly pro-U.S. Colombia and Venezuela’s leftist leader have frequently been tense.
Colombia
has accused Venezuela of supporting leftist FARC guerillas and the
countries clashed after Colombia bombed a FARC camp inside Ecuador
in March 2008.
Diplomatic ties were relaunched in April this year and according to Colombia’s Foreign Ministry a few weeks ago “never had been better.” (AFP)