Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who for years has had tense relations with neighboring Colombia, warned on Sunday of worse ties and even possible military hostilities if Bogota’s ex-defense chief Juan Manuel Santos wins the presidency.
A victory by Santos in the May 30 presidential election “could lead to war” in the region, said Chavez on his Alo Presidente weekly television and radio broadcast.
The firebrand leftist leader also demanded that the conservative candidate, a close political ally of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, issue an apology for a Colombian military attack during his tenure as defense minister on a leftist guerrilla encampment on Colombia’s border with Ecuador two years ago.
“If he wants to be president, he should start by saying ‘I’m sorry,’ and ask forgiveness” for the bombing raid,” Chavez said.
Santos — whose family owns the El Tiempo daily, Colombia’s most influential newspaper — told reporters in an interview on Sunday that Chavez should butt out of Colombia’s election campaign.
“What the Colombian people do not accept is interference in their elections,” he said.
He said that he and Chavez “think very differently, but we each have one obligation vis a vis our people, and that is to respect our differences.”
Under Colombian law, Uribe, who already has served two terms, cannot stand for re-election.
His would-be successor Santos is accused by Ecuador and Venezuela of having carried out a March 2008 air raid on the clandestine militant encampment that killed Raul Reyes, the No. 2 official of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
A court in Ecuador was to issue a ruling yesterday as to whether it would allow justice authorities to act on an arrest warrant that has been issued against Santos in connection with that bombing raid.
During a campaign debate last week, Santos expressed “pride in having defended the sovereignty and security of Colombians,” including the controversial bombing.
Colombia is the top regional ally of the US in the fight against drug trafficking, and attempts to contain the influence of the Chavez.
Meanwhile, Chavez also dismissed a retired general’s warnings about a growing Cuban presence in Venezuela’s military, accusing the officer on Sunday of helping opponents portray his government as a pawn of former Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Brigadier General Antonio Rivero has denounced a widespread involvement of Cuban troops in the military.
Chavez made no denials on that point, saying that Cubans are merely aiding soldiers in a limited capacity, and he defended his government’s increasingly close cooperation with communist-led Cuba.
“What Cubanization? The Cubans are helping us here,” Chavez said during Alo Presidente.
“They’re telling us how to store compasses, how to repair radios inside tanks and how to stockpile ammunition,” Chavez said of the Cubans’ activities.
Chavez said he suspected Rivero was making inroads with opposition groups long before he retired, saying the former officer speaks with “the same voice of the enemy.”
“He was already among bad company,” Chavez said.
Opposition leaders and other critics have long accused Chavez of allowing Cuban advisers and operatives to hold key positions in the military and state institutions, but have failed to produce concrete evidence of their allegations.
Rivero’s detailed descriptions of Cuban involvement and his high standing in military circles have added new credibility to the concerns.
Rivero has said he retired from the army this month after 25 years of service, mainly because of “the presence and meddling of Cuban soldiers” in the armed forces. The former Chavez ally said he witnessed Cubans training Venezuelan troops during his last assignment as an infantry commander.
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