Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday called on Colombian guerrilla groups FARC and ELN to “reconsider their armed strategy” against the State. According to the leftist leader, the United States is using the guerrillas as an “excuse” to “penetrate” Colombia.
Chavez, who broke ties with Colombia this week following allegations that Venezuelan authorities neglect to act on guerrilla presence on their territory, made the remarks at a forum of labor unionists in Caracas.
“I believe that the Colombian guerrillas should seriously consider what some of us have done. With all respect, the world today is not the same as in the 60s,” Chavez said.
According to the Venezuelan Head of State, guerrilla groups like FARC and ELN will not achieve political power by continuing their armed resistance.
“I don’t think there are conditions in Colombia that allow them to take power in the foreseeable future. Instead, they have become the main excuse of the empire to penetrate Colombia deeply and from there attack Venezuela, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Cuba,” Chavez added.
Earlier on Friday, Chavez had said that the U.S. are using Colombia as an “enclave of the empire” and are looking for ways to attack Venezuela.
“There is no doubt in Latin America that the empire chose the most tense space … to create the conditions for the break-out of an armed conflict that serves the interests of the empire in this part of South America,” the leftist leader said on state television.
The Venezuelan President on numerous occasions accused the U.S. of seeking military intervention in Venezuela.
