Chavez freezes ties with Colombia

July 30, 2009 by Infowars Ireland

Hugo Chavez strongly denies supplying weapons to Colombian rebels

news.bbc.co.uk

Venezuela is withdrawing its ambassador from neighbouring Colombia and freezing relations, following a dispute over weapons supplied to Colombian rebels.

President Hugo Chavez, who announced the move on Venezuelan TV, also said he was halting trade deals with Colombia.

The announcement came a day after the Colombia government said weapons bought by Venezuela from Sweden in the 1980s had ended up with Colombian guerrillas.

Mr Chavez denied this and accused Colombia of acting “irresponsibly”.

“I’ve ordered to withdraw our ambassador from Bogota,” the Venezuelan leader said on Tuesday. “We will freeze relations with Colombia,” he added.

As well as a diplomatic freeze, Mr Chavez warned trade relations would also be frozen and raised the possibility of expropriating Colombian companies.

Venezuela, he said, would also substitute imports from Colombia – which currently account for about a third of the country’s trade – with goods from other countries, notably Brazil and Ecuador.

Bilateral trade between the two countries was set to run to some $5bn (£3bn) this year, according to the Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber of Economic Integration (Cavecol).

Cavecol has appealed to both governments to conduct a “frank and sincere” dialogue and to maintain not only commercial but also “diplomatic, political and social ties,” the Spanish news agency Efe reported.
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