Western Hemisphere
November 23

Venezuela only accepts Unasur mediation
Venezuela's Deputy Foreign Minister Francisco Arias Cárdenas said on November 22 that any mediation effort with the government of Colombia could only be made within the framework of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur).

"There is an issue between Colombia and South America; there is a problem between the Colombian oligarchy and the changes that have been taken place in the region. Then, mediation efforts between Colombia and Venezuela are not necessary unless they are made within the framework of Unasur," Arias said during a televised interview with former Vice President José Vicente Rangel, in the private TV network Televen.

The Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs for Latin America and the Caribbean said that Unasur is the most appropriate scenario, because the Colombian government "with the deployment of US military bases" is attacking the process of regional integration.

As far as Arias Cárdenas is concerned, it is "immoral" that the United States says that there is a problem between Venezuela and Colombia, as the US government is the source of tensions since it is meddling in the internal affairs of sovereign countries.

For his part, Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermúdez said in an interview with the Colombian newspaper El Ti Felipe Muñoz, the head of the Colombian intelligence service, insisted on saying that he has not sent spies to Venezuela, following the arrest of several Colombians who have been accused by Venezuelan authorities of searching confidential information in Venezuela, in an interview with the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo in Bogotá.

Colombian secret service denies spying on Venezuela
The director of the Department of Administrative Security (DAS) said that Julio Tocora is the only DAS official who is being held in Venezuela. According to the head of the secret service and migration department, the Colombian detective was working for a DAS unit at the department of La Guajira (northeast Colombia), and travelled to Venezuela as he was invited by a friend. Tocora was arrested some days later, DPA reported.

"After 46 days of having been brought to court where he was charged with spying (for Colombia), we do not know of any evidence," Muñoz said.empo that the binational crisis could be resolved by means of a direct dialogue between President Álvaro Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chávez. However, he clarified that the dialogue must be respectful and without any insults that could offend national dignity."

November 24

Insulza regrets Chávez's insults
José Miguel Insulza, Secretary-General, Organization of American States (OAS), termed "deplorable" the remarks made by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez, who called "disgraceful" both his Colombian counterpart Álvaro Uribe and Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs Jaime Bermúdez.

"The statements seem to me deplorable from any point of view. They should not be expected among heads of State in Latin America," the OAS Secretary-General said in a short interview with Efe.

"There the Colombian Foreign Minister went saying that Venezuela is talking about war." "I cannot say what I really meant to tell them because we are on the air… You, disgraceful, as well as your president, and you have disgraced Colombia!" Chávez said when reading a news release that quoted Bermúdez's remarks. The day after, Uribe made no comments.

"Such wording must be removed among our heads of State," Insulza noted. Last November 20, the OAS Secretary-General asked the governments of Colombia and Venezuela to keep "top prudence" and urged them again to come to terms by means of dialogue.

Colombian businessmen rail on US silence in crisis with Venezuela
The US "silence" in the current showdown between Colombia and Venezuela, precisely unleashed by an agreement which enables US troops to use at least seven Colombian military bases, was criticized by Colombian businessmen.

"It is a silence that can be heard in a deafening way in the Colombian reality," Luis Carlos Villegas, the president of the National Businessmen's Association (Andi) told Radio Caracol.

Villegas claimed that the United States "has forsaken its allies elsewhere in the world," Efe quoted.

The Colombian private sector "is very surprised by the US silence as to the dispute with Venezuela," Villegas insisted on saying.

Colombian-Venezuelan diplomatic, political and trade relations have been seriously deteriorated since the news of an agreement with the United States some months ago.

Venezuela to produce evidence of Colombia-US military agreement
Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan Minister of Foreign Affairs, is getting ready to produce at the ministerial meeting of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) "evidence" of the background of a military agreement executed by Colombia and the United States.

"We will bring our approach and the evidence we have of all those paramilitary raids and the attempts at destabilization" from Colombia, Maduro said, according to a communiqué released on November 24, AFP quoted.

"Additionally, we will have the main evidence: the document outrageously signed by Colombian Foreign Minister and Defense Minister with the US Ambassador (to Colombia). This is the main evidence of the handover of the Colombian territory," he added.

Also, Maduro said that the Venezuelan government will ask Unasur to work on "a plan for peace in Colombia and to end with drug production and traffic in Colombia and from Colombia."

Uribe: Governments should respect the rights of border towns
Colombian President Álvaro Uribe said on November 24 that governments should ensure citizens' rights to live on the border, in reference to a political and diplomatic crisis with Venezuela and its effects on border residents.

In his remarks to a radio station based in Bogotá, Uribe remembered that many citizens of both countries cross the border on a daily basis, for work or study purposes, AFP reported.

"They live on a side of the border, go to school on the other side; they live in Venezuela, come to Pamplona University. Then, one has to respect the citizens' right to live on the border, on one and another side of the border," he said.

Reference was made to the control, according to local residents, imposed from Caracas on the bilateral trade on the border and the explosion by the Venezuelan National Guard of two makeshift pedestrian bridges.

November 25

Venezuela calls on UN Security Council to address Colombian conflict
Venezuela on November 25 asked the UN Security Council to assess the situation in Colombia, claiming that deployment of seven US bases are a threat to peace.

"This is a serious problem threatening continental peace and security, not just a problem between Venezuela, Colombia and the United States," Venezuelan representative to UN Jorge Valero told a news conference, AFP reported.

Valero delivered a letter to the Austrian presidency of the Security Council demanding inclusion of the Colombian in the agenda of UN Security Council.

The situation comes in the context of increased tensions between the South American neighbors. The US has veto power in the Security Council that allows Washington to block any decision of the body.

November 26

Venezuela delves into alleged illegal foot bridges on border with Colombia
The Bolivarian Armed Forces are investigating the alleged construction of six new pedestrian bridges built on the border with Colombia. Should these bridges be found, the army will destroy them.

"We will prevent any crimes from being perpetrated by using these provisional and illegal bridges to smuggle oil, food or trafficking drugs," said General Eusebio Aguero, commander of the Army garrison in the state of Táchira, AFP reported.

"The Colombian government knows that we have the right to destroy all those footbridges," he said.

The troops have been instructed to report the presence of these border crossings. We will authorize "the corresponding removal. We will always act on the Venezuelan side, without setting a foot on the neighboring country," Aguero added.

Colombia ready to file another complaint at OAS if more bridges are knocked down
The Colombian government is to file new charges with the Organization of American States (OAS) if Venezuela is to demolish additional makeshift bridges built by the community on the Venezuela-Colombia border, Colombian Minister of Defense Gabriel Silva reported.

The senior officer said in a press conference that the bridges were the result of the lack of presence of both the Venezuelan and Colombian States on the border and as the community answer to its problems, Efe quoted.

Earlier on November 25, General Eusebio Agüero, army commander in Andean Táchira state, reported that Venezuelan authorities were ascertaining whether six additional "footbridges" had been installed on the common border. If found, they would be destroyed, Agüero said.

"Definition of these bridges as a social and community infrastructure makes any action against such infrastructure to be condemned by the international humanitarian law (IHL) and the international law," the Colombian minister said.

South American ex presidents regret Chávez's stance
Former Presidents Ricardo Lagos, of Chile, and Julio María Sanguinetti, of Uruguay, criticized on November 26 in Colombia the confrontational policy of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and warned that he was hampering the process of South American integration.

"Integration processes do not improve precisely by cutting bridges," said Lagos, who is attending at the Colombian city of Cartagena a congress on infrastructure, Efe quoted.

Lagos made reference to the destruction by Venezuelan authorities of two makeshift bridges on the Colombian border one week ago.

The Venezuelan government justified the blasting when claiming that the bridges were used by drug traffickers. In reply, Colombia filed a formal complaint with the Organization of American States (OAS).

Sanguinetti, also in Cartagena, also lamented Chávez's "confrontational policy," "his daily food" to sideline Venezuela's "internal problems."

November 27

Unasur tries to ease tensions between Colombia and Venezuela
Colombia's government reported on November 26 night that it will simply send a "technical team" to the ministerial meeting of the Union of South American (Unasur) that is taking place in Quito. Participants in the meeting will discuss a controversial military agreement between Colombia and the United States.

"Recent attitudes toward the Colombian government and people, and escalation on our authorities do not allow us to predict that discussions in the meeting will be carried out in a tone of respect, objectivity and thematic balance," the statement said.

Consequently, the ministers of Foreign Affairs and Defense, Jaime Bermúdez and Gabriel Silva, respectively, will not attend the scheduled meeting.

Despite this situation, the South American ministers of Defense and Foreign Affairs will seek to reduce tensions between Venezuela and Colombia during the meeting in Ecuador. "It will be the continuation of a process aimed at deepening mutual trust measures," said Ecuadorian Minister of Security Miguel Carvajal, the Secretary Pro Tempore of Unasur, AFP reported.

For his part, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva regretted the absence of Presidents Álvaro Uribe of Colombia and Hugo Chávez of Venezuela in Manaus, for a summit on climate issues that was held on November 26.

Lula said: "I think that my counterparts Hugo Chávez and Álvaro Uribe must understand that war is not constructive."

Meanwhile, the Colombian government will file a new complaint at the Organization of American States should Venezuela decide to destroy other makeshift pedestrian bridges built by the community in the border area, said Defense Minister Gabriel Silva.

Colombian Defense Minister confirms that FARC leader is hiding in Venezuela
Gabriel Silva, Colombian Minister of Defense, reiterated on November 27 Colombia's complaint according to which at least one top leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is hidden in Venezuela. He admitted that Bogotá has lost "in part" the regional dispute by explaining that there are no US bases in Colombian territory.

In August 2009, during the presidential summit of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) held in Argentina, President Álvaro Uribe publicly denounced for the first time that two top FARC leaders, Luciano Marín Arango, also known as "Iván Márquez," and Rodrigo Londoño, aka "Timochenko" or "Timoleón Jiménez" were in Venezuela, AP reported.

Uribe gave no details on the origin of the reports on that occasion, and neither did this time the Colombian Defense Minister.

Minister Silva said that "everyone knows, and it is an irrefutable truth, that leaders of the National Liberation Army (ELN) are hiding in Venezuela. We know that Iván Márquez is in Venezuela."

Silva admitted that "we have not been good communicators," when he referred to regional criticism on the military agreement signed by Bogotá and Washington in October.

Spain willing to ease tensions between Chávez and Uribe
Spain has said it is "willing" to help reducing tensions between Venezuela and Colombia, which are at odds about the use of Colombian military bases by US troops, confirmed on November 27 sources of the Spanish government, some days before Hugo Chávez and Álvaro Uribe attend a meeting in Portugal.

The two presidents will arrive on November 29 in the Portuguese city of Estoril to participate in the meeting of the Nineteenth Ibero-American Summit, DPA reported.

Sources expect the crisis between Colombia and Venezuela will be in the spotlight during the summit and a major issue for the Heads of State and government.

"The two (Presidents) know Spain is willing to help restore the channels of dialogue and reduce tensions," government sources said.

Colombia thinks about external threat for the first time in decades
The Colombian Minister of Defense Gabriel Silva admitted on November 27 that for the first time in decades he is thinking about the ways to prepare for an external threat, referring to Venezuela, a country with which he wants to "avoid any confrontation."

"For the first time in decades, the Minister of Defense is pondering how to deal, how to prepare for a situation of external threat," Silva told Colombian radio Caracol in Bogotá.

However, he warned that Colombia does not want "to deviate from the central strategic goal: defeating narco-terrorism." Therefore, he added, "we must not spend energy, resources and people in some international caprices, created by an unacceptable rhetoric."

Nevertheless, Silva added emphatically that "neighbors are condemned to understand each other."

Venezuela denounces Colombia's "disdain" of Unasur
Failure of the Colombian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Colombian Minister of Defense to attend the meeting of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur), on November 27 in Quito, shows "disdain" of the organization, Venezuelan Minister Nicolás Maduro said.

"It is a gap difficult to explain, an enormous mistake, disdain of Unasur," Maduro told reporters in an informal talk within the framework of a meeting of Unasur Ministers of Defense and Ministers of Foreign Affairs, AFP quoted.

"An end must be put to foreign military bases in our territory, we need to demand it," the minister added, in reference to seven military bases made available by the Colombian government to the United States as part of an agreement against drug traffic and leftwing guerrillas.