Colombia’s foreign minister on Wednesday asked the government of Venezuela to stop accusing former President Alvaro Uribe of interfering with Venezuela’s internal political tensions.
Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin told radio station Blu that “there comes a point in which you have to demand that Venezuela refrains from defaming former President Alvaro Uribe.”
The foreign minister responded to accusations made on Tuesday by her Venezuelan counterpart Elias Jaua, who had said that Uribe “is the leader of the aggression against Venezuela. He is a murderer and a paramilitary that is causing a lot of damage to our country, but we will defeat him.”
“We are asking them to refrain from expressing themselves like that regarding ex-President Uribe,” Holguin said in a second interview, broadcast on W Radio, adding that “Colombia deserves respect.”
Additionally, the foreign minister said that “they can’t blame us for everything that happens in Venezuela.”
Meanwhile, Holguin said that her government is “very worried” about the tensions that have pressured Colombia’s exports to its neighbor. “We are permanently monitoring everything. We have all our consuls and our ambassador [keeping an eye] on what’s going on,” said Holguin.
Venezuela’s leftist government is facing opposition protests in the country’s cities that have so far cost at least ten lives.
Uribe, a vociferous critic of Venezuela’s socialist government, has long been one of the promotors of tensions between opposition and government in Colombia’s neighboring country according to the administration of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.
Sources
- Al canciller Jaua se le fue la mano: canciller Holguín sobre declaraciones contra Uribe (W Radio)
- Holguín exigió que Venezuela deje de señalar a Uribe (El Universal)
