Colombia protests Venezuelan involvement in Bogota political rally

Colombia’s Foreign Ministry sent a letter of protest to the
Venezuelan government over the involvement of Venezuelan diplomats in a
political meeting in Bogota where they were seeking support for
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez’ policies and the Colombian Bolivarian movement.

According to the letter to Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, “the Foreign Ministry has informed the government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, through its embassy in Bogota, that the participation of Venezuelan diplomats in acts of political campaigning in Colombia is unacceptable and that this kind of behavior can not be repeated.”

“These acts are against the rules as established in the 1961 Vienna Convention on diplomatic relations,” the letter continued.

The letter followed a report on Colombian national television that showed two embassy officials and David Corredor, presidential candidate of the
Bolivarian Socialist Movement, talking to a Bogota community and calling on the community to support Chavez and his Bolivarian revolution.

The Venezuelan recently called on supporters to let his socialist message be heard more in Colombia. According to Chavez, the conservative Colombian government is trying to block his message to reach the Colombian people. For this reason, a Venezuelan border town mayor decided to build a repeater antenna allowing Chavez’ weekly television program ‘Alo Presidente’ to reach more than a million people in the north east of the country.

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