Colombian President Alvaro Uribe is picking fights with Venezuela to increase his chances for a re-election, Venezuela’s deputy Foreign Minister said Monday.
According to Francisco Javier Arias, deputy Foreign Minister of Venezuela, Colombia signed a pact with the U.S. allowing the Americans to freely use Colombian military bases and airports to secure the “continuity of the empire.”
“President Uribe is putting the region at risk to secure his re-election, dragging an elephant like the United States into a china shop, with the idea of solve problems that this northern country is not interested in,” the official told Colombian Caracol Radio.
Arias is sure the only reason for the Americans to sgn the pact is to stay in control in South America.
“The United States’ problem is control, the prevalence and maintaining of the empire.” … “The attitude of President Alvaro Uribe is not correct,” the official added.
Colombia’s decision to give its friendly relations with the U.S. a boost by allowing the latter to use military bases and airports in Colombia, triggered fierce criticism in all of South America, especially in Venezuela and Ecuador, where these countries’ leftist governments fear the sovereignty of their states.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Sunday last week closed important border crossings and ordered an extra 15,000 troops to the border to increase security.