Venezuela deploys army on Colombia border
Venezuela deploys army on border Venezuela has begun moving land, sea and air forces - including 10 tank battalions - to the border with Colombia, according to the country's defence minister. Gustavo Rangel said on Wednesday that the movement of troops was to counter US expansion in the region amid an escalating dispute over Bogota's attack on rebels in Ecuador. The move came as Rafael Correa, Ecuador's president, urged Brazil to condemn Colombia for the operation that killed Raul Reyes, a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) leader. Correa, who is on a tour of the region, has called Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's president a "liar" who wants war. He has warned that if the attack goes unpunished, "the region will be in danger, because the next victim could be Peru, it could be Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, any one of our countries". 'Sponsoring genocide' For his part, Uribe has said he will ask the International Criminal Court to try Hugo Chavez, his Venezuelan counterpart, for "sponsoring and financing genocide" over alleged links to Farc. "Colombia is proposing that the International Criminal Court charge Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, for the support and financing of genocide," he said. Colombia says that documents found on Reyes after the attack indicate that Venezuela gave Farc $300m. Venezuela says Colombia is lying about the documents. Uribe has said he will not permit his nation to be drawn into open war. "Colombia has never been a country to go to war with its neighbours," he said on Tuesday. Colombia has more than 250,000 soldiers, trained and equipped by the US, while Venezuela and Ecuador have about 172,000 active troops between them. Border deployment Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, says that the country's defence ministry hoped to have all six of its battalions, air support and tanks deployed in the three provinces sharing a border with Colombia by the end of Wednesday. However, she says a senior Venezuelan official told her that the move was only a defensive tactic and the main plan was to "strangle" Colombia economically by halting the vital cross-border trade between the two nations. People within Venezuela also remain highly concerned that relations with Colombia have sunk so low and are worried it could affect their livelihoods, she adds. Meanwhile Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, currently in the Venezuelan town of La Fria close to the Colombian border, said people on both sides of the border were worried about what effect the tensions would have on the economy. "For example, Colombia sends a lot of food to the Venezuelan side, and at the same time many people import cheap gas from Venezuela," she said. Earlier on Wednesday, an emergency session of the 34-member Organisation of American States convened to defuse the crisis failed found itself deadlocked the wording of a resolution. They decided to meet again later in the day to find an agreement. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
Venezuela deploys army on border Venezuela has begun moving land, sea and air forces - including 10 tank battalions - to the border with Colombia, according to the country's defence minister. Gustavo Rangel said on Wednesday that the movement of troops was to counter US expansion in the region amid an escalating dispute over Bogota's attack on rebels in Ecuador. The move came as Rafael Correa, Ecuador's president, urged Brazil to condemn Colombia for the operation that killed Raul Reyes, a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) leader. Correa, who is on a tour of the region, has called Alvaro Uribe, Colombia's president a "liar" who wants war. He has warned that if the attack goes unpunished, "the region will be in danger, because the next victim could be Peru, it could be Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, any one of our countries". 'Sponsoring genocide' For his part, Uribe has said he will ask the International Criminal Court to try Hugo Chavez, his Venezuelan counterpart, for "sponsoring and financing genocide" over alleged links to Farc. "Colombia is proposing that the International Criminal Court charge Hugo Chavez, the president of Venezuela, for the support and financing of genocide," he said. Colombia says that documents found on Reyes after the attack indicate that Venezuela gave Farc $300m. Venezuela says Colombia is lying about the documents. Uribe has said he will not permit his nation to be drawn into open war. "Colombia has never been a country to go to war with its neighbours," he said on Tuesday. Colombia has more than 250,000 soldiers, trained and equipped by the US, while Venezuela and Ecuador have about 172,000 active troops between them. Border deployment Al Jazeera's Lucia Newman in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital, says that the country's defence ministry hoped to have all six of its battalions, air support and tanks deployed in the three provinces sharing a border with Colombia by the end of Wednesday. However, she says a senior Venezuelan official told her that the move was only a defensive tactic and the main plan was to "strangle" Colombia economically by halting the vital cross-border trade between the two nations. People within Venezuela also remain highly concerned that relations with Colombia have sunk so low and are worried it could affect their livelihoods, she adds. Meanwhile Al Jazeera's Teresa Bo, currently in the Venezuelan town of La Fria close to the Colombian border, said people on both sides of the border were worried about what effect the tensions would have on the economy. "For example, Colombia sends a lot of food to the Venezuelan side, and at the same time many people import cheap gas from Venezuela," she said. Earlier on Wednesday, an emergency session of the 34-member Organisation of American States convened to defuse the crisis failed found itself deadlocked the wording of a resolution. They decided to meet again later in the day to find an agreement. Source: Al Jazeera and agencies