Colombia-Venezuela Dispute Unresolved in Meeting of South American Leaders

Juan Forero
The Washington Post
July 31, 2010

After the posturing and hysterics, an emergency meeting and competing press briefings, South American leaders were unable to resolve a crisis that began when the Colombian government accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez of aiding and abetting Colombian guerrillas.

"A package of lies and manipulations with which to attack our country," Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro said after diplomats from across the continent gathered in Ecuador on Thursday...

...At the heart of the matter is an issue that Colombians consider of paramount importance: whether Chávez's government provides sanctuary, rifles, ammunition and tactical support to Colombian rebel groups, as Uribe's government claims. Colombian officials have long contended that the guerrillas use the alleged assistance to cross into Colombia and attack armed forces and civilians.

"The issue is serious -- is a nation state supporting a terrorist group or isn't it?" said Chris Sabatini, senior director of policy for the Council of the Americas, a New York-based organization that tracks politics in Latin America. "That deserves more attention, more seriousness, than one president losing his cool and a group of presidents posturing over it."

The latest spat with Venezuela began when Uribe authorized his defense minister to hold a news conference, in which it was announced that Colombia had irrefutable evidence of Venezuela's support for the rebels. At a special session of the Organization of American States in Washington on July 22, Colombia's ambassador to that body, Luis Alfonso Hoyos, presented videos, photographs and maps that he said showed the presence of 1,500 rebels in dozens of camps inside Venezuela....

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