[NYTr] Venezual-Colombia Relations Remain Frozen Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2007 00:51:38 -0600 (CST) Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit Venezuelanalysis - Nov 29, 2007 http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/2922 Relations Between Venezuela and Colombia Remain Frozen by Chris Carlson - MC)rida, November 29, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez announced Wednesday that his government would not have relations with Colombia as long as Alvaro Uribe is the president of Colombia. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) made a similar statement on Tuesday, saying that there would be no humanitarian exchange as long as Uribe is in power. Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba, meanwhile, defended her mediation efforts before the Colombian Congress and called for a normalization of relations between Colombia and Venezuela. "As long President Uribe is the president of Colombia, I won't have any type of relations with him or with the Colombian government," Chavez declared at a campaign event in Venezuela on Wednesday. "A president that is capable of blatantly lying, to disrespect another president that he has called his friend, who he has called on for help. Well, if that's how he is with me, I wonder how he is with the poor Colombian people," he said. The verbal confrontation between the two presidents reached its worst point in years this week after Chavez decided to review his government's relations with Colombia. The decision came after the Colombian president called off mediation efforts led by President Chavez between the Colombian guerrilla organization FARC and the Colombian government. Uribe accused Chavez of violating Colombian sovereignty and of giving "legitimacy to terrorism." The Venezuelan president at first responded by saying that he respected the sovereign decision of the Colombian president, but would not accept the "lies" he used to justify his decision. Shortly thereafter, Chavez recalled his ambassador in BogotC! to review the bilateral relations with Colombia. President Chavez lamented the end of the mediation efforts and assured that they had just reached a breakthrough in the negotiations with the FARC, explaining that FARC leader Manuel Marulanda "was going to turn over the first group [of hostages] before the end of the year." "The next step was to converse with Marulanda, which even Uribe accepted as a condition for the liberation of the first group," said Chavez. He went on to explain that the advances in the negotiations "set off the alarms" in Washington, and caused Uribe to end the mediation efforts. The FARC guerrilla organization also released a statement on Wednesday, labeling Uribe's decision to end negotiations as "miserable." The FARC concurred with the statements of the Venezuela president, assuring that Uribe is the biggest enemy to any humanitarian exchange. "For there to be a humanitarian exchange and peace we need a new, truly democratic government, founded on the sovereignty of the people, and social justice," said the FARC statement. The FARC agreed that the mediation efforts with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were the only hope for successful negotiations and sharply criticized the Colombian president for suspending the efforts. "Uribe's attitude upon suspending the humanitarian mediation of President Hugo Chavez and Senator Piedad Cordoba is miserable, very miserable, when it was the only hope to achieve an agreement in Colombia," said the FARC. "We should all feel ashamed of the Uribe's obnoxious affront against a friendly president." Colombian Senator Piedad Cordoba appeared before the Colombian Congress on Tuesday to defend her efforts to mediate with the FARC. Cordoba was asked to lead mediation efforts by President Uribe himself, but has now been accused of treason and of collaborating with terrorists. Cordoba explained her efforts before the Congress in an hour-long presentation and emphasized the importance of the efforts by President Chavez in making contact with the FARC. The Senator also expressed her frustration at not being able to continue with the efforts, but assured that she would speak to the Venezuela president about normalizing relations with Uribe. "I want to tell President Chavez that Colombia and Venezuela cannot continue in conflict," she said before the Congress. "I'm going to use my opportunity to speak with [Chavez] so that relations can be normalized." * ================================================================= NY Transfer News Collective * A Service of Blythe Systems Since 1985 - Information for the Rest of Us Our main website: http://www.blythe.org List Archives: http://blythe-systems.com/pipermail/nytr/ Subscribe: http://blythe-systems.com/mailman/listinfo/nytr =================================================================