BOGOTA: Colombian President Alvaro Uribe denied Saturday that he planned to launch a military attack on neighboring Venezuela, denouncing President Hugo Chavez after Caracas ordered troops to the border.
"Colombia has never thought of attacking the brotherly people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, as its president has told his country in a clearly deceptive move," Uribe said in a statement read out by his spokesman Cesar Velasquez.
Uribe said Bogota "continues to insist" on the application of international law to ensure Venezuela "complies with its obligation not to harbor Colombian terrorists."
The current tensions between the countries were sparked by Bogota`s claims that Venezuela was harboring some 1,500 leftist Colombian rebels, an allegation strongly denied by Caracas.
Chavez Friday ordered troops to deploy to the border and accused his outgoing Colombian counterpart of being "capable of anything."
The firebrand leftist broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 22, one week after Uribe leveled the charges at Venezuela.
"We`ve deployed military units, air force, infantry, but quietly because we don`t want to upset anybody, the population," Chavez told state-run VTV television in a telephone interview Friday, although he did not say how many troops and exactly what military ordinance was involved in the move.
"This has become a threat of war and we don`t want war," added Chavez, who had also threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States if it backed an attack by Colombia, its chief ally in the region.
Last Sunday, Chavez cancelled a trip to Cuba, claiming the risk of a Colombian attack had never been greater.
The Colombian Air Force on Friday meanwhile said it would set up an air base in Yopal, in eastern Casanares department, to keep an eye over the border area with Venezuela and take on Colombian rebel forces in the region.
The air base will also be tasked with protecting crude oil installations in the region and with "fighting the different drug trafficking groups in that part of the Colombian territory," the air force statement said.
Uribe and Chavez have often been at loggerheads in the past.
In November, Chavez broke off diplomatic relations over a US-Colombian military base agreement he said was a threat to regional stability.
In their latest tussle, Colombia took its accusations to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) on July 22, while Venezuela earlier this week went before a foreign ministers` meeting of regional body Unasur, the Union of South American Nations, which called for a presidential summit to try to resolve the crisis.
Uribe on Friday defended his decision last week to have the OAS take up accusations that Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army guerrillas were using bases in Venezuela to stage their anti-government attacks on Bogota.
"You have to be daring to denounce terrorists on the international level. You must be daring and respectful of the international community, but honest in laying out our claims," Uribe said.
"It has been a difficult step, one that creates problems, diplomatic frictions, but it`s necessary," the outgoing president added.
Uribe leaves after eight years in office with an 80 percent approval rating chiefly for his crackdown on the FARC, which has roughly halved its fighting strength to some 7,000 combatants, according to official figures.
BDST: 0907 HRS, August 01, 2010
