REYES THEIS
EL UNIVERSAL

While last week the Colombian government asked President Hugo Chávez to "stop the attacks," on Sunday the Venezuelan ruler branded his Colombian counterpart as "coward" and "unworthy," among other things.

The reason behind Chávez's new attack against Uribe were the statements US drug tsar John Walters and the US Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Glen Mullen made in Bogota against Chávez.

"The Colombian government calls for backups to make an attack, and the gringos come right away. The chief of the gringo military came to Bogota three days ago and said Chávez was a threat. On Saturday, (US President George W.) Bush's drug tsar came and said that Chávez is the world's drug trafficker. Obviously, all of this was fostered by the Colombian government, which put them there to attack us," said the Venezuelan ruler during the 301st edition of his weekly radio and television show Aló Presidente (Hello, President), broadcast from Machiques, northwestern oil-rich Zulia state.

On Sunday, former US diplomat Myles Frechette, an ex US Ambassador to Bogota, ratified the claims made by the US drug tsar and told Colombian network Radio Caracol that the Venezuelan president allowed "the operation of airplanes flying in and out his country carrying drugs."

New insults
Chávez labeled President Uribe as "a mere and sad pawn of the US empire meant to move against the Latin American peoples."

"A man like that is unworthy of being the president of a country. He is a coward, liar, troublemaker, and plotter. Uribe is good to be a mafia boss. Don Vito Corleone pales besides a man like Álvaro  Uribe, who has strong link to the paramilitary, but he enjoys the gringos' protection because he is their paw," Chávez said.

Subsequently, after he read a letter from eight Colombian people the Colombian guerrilla groups are holding as hostages, Chávez branded the Colombian government as "irresponsible," as "it would rather let these people rot in the jungle than recognizing that Colombia is at war."

Fight against smuggling
For the second consecutive day, Chávez ordered to stop Venezuela foods from being smuggled into Colombia. "The National Guard, the Army and the people should be aligned on the border to avoid food from smuggled into Colombia."

"When we have food surplus, we will be able to export. But we are faced with food shortage, how are we supposed to allow food to be taken out of the country?"

Translated by Maryflor Suárez R.
msuarez@eluniversal.com