CARACAS, Venezuela, March 6, 2008
Chavez Wants Blockade Of Colombian Imports
Move Ups Risk Of Food Shortages As Venezuela, Ecuador, Ratchet Up Rhetoric
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Venezuelan National Guard soldiers inspect a pickup truck at a check point in Paraguaipoa, on the Venezuelan border with Colombia, Thursday, March 6, 2008. Venezuela is starting to block billions of dollars in Colombian imports and investment under orders from President Hugo Chavez, threatening economic havoc in both nations in response to a Colombian military attack on rebels hiding in Ecuador. (AP Photo/Howard Yanes)
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Venezuelan National Guard soldiers inspect a car at a check point in Paraguaipoa, on the Venezuelan border with Colombia, Thursday, March 6, 2008. Venezuela is starting to block billions of dollars in Colombian imports and investment under orders from President Hugo Chavez, threatening economic havoc in both nations in response to a Colombian military attack on rebels hiding in Ecuador. (AP Photo/Howard Yanes)
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Ecuador's President Rafael Correa, left, speaks to Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez during a welcoming ceremony at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas, Wednesday, March 5, 2008. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)
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Raul Reyes, a top rebel leader and chief negotiator for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), is seen after talks with government negotiators in La Tunia, a small village in the FARC-controlled zone in this Friday, July 16, 1999, file photo. (AP Photo/Scott Dalton)
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A Venezuelan National Guard soldier inspects a truck carrying bricks at a check point in Paraguachon, on the Venezuelan border with Colombia, Wednesday, March 5, 2008. Venezuela has nearly completed its deployment of thousands of troops to states along the border with Colombia, Gen. Jesus Gonzalez Gonzalez said, after Colombia's strike on a guerrilla base across the border in Ecuador. (AP Photo/Howard Yanes)
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Chavez and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa demanded international condemnation of Colombia's U.S.-allied government on Wednesday night, while Chavez predicted a sharp fall in the $6 billion annual Colombia-Venezuela trade: "That's coming down."
"We aren't interested in Colombian investments here," Chavez said, standing beside Correa. "Of the Colombian businesses that are here in Venezuela, we could nationalize some."
He said Venezuela will search for products from other countries to replace those from Colombia. Noting that Colombia traditionally supplies food to Venezuela, he said now "we can't depend on them, not even for a grain of rice."
Though Venezuelan officials express confidence they will quickly find replacements for Colombian goods, government critics say the move is bound to worsen shortages of basic foods from milk to chicken that were an annoyance in Venezuela well before a dispute that has ballooned into one of South America's most serious diplomatic crises in years.
Venezuela and Ecuador have each sent thousands of soldiers to their borders with Colombia. Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said Wednesday he would not mobilize troops.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday that the United States wants to see a diplomatic solution. The United States offered unqualified support to Colombia in the dispute, in contrast to almost every other country in the hemisphere.
"I do hope there will be a diplomatic outcome to this," Rice said in Belgium. "The situation shows that everyone needs to be vigilant about the use of border areas by terrorist organizations."
One opportunity will be a meeting of the Rio Group, which began with ministerial meetings Thursday in the Dominican Republic. At least 12 Latin American presidents - including those from Colombia, Venezuela and Ecuador - are expected to meet Friday.
Bolivian Foreign Minister David Choquehuanca said the ministers would "see what we can do to help find a peaceful solution to this conflict through dialogue," although he added: "Solutions don't come overnight."
The Organization of American States on Wednesday approved a watered-down resolution calling Colombia's cross-border raid Saturday on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia camp a violation of Ecuador's sovereignty. It was sending a top-level delegation to help ease tensions, but stopped short of explicitly condemning the attack.
Chavez and Correa warned Wednesday night that the crisis would not end without clear, explicit international condemnation of the raid.
"The OAS resolution pleases us. We are pleased, but not satisfied," Correa said as he visited Chavez in Caracas. "This isn't going to cool down until the aggressor is condemned."
People prepared for marches Thursday in major Colombian and Latin American cities, as well as in the United States and Europe, to condemn Colombia's right-wing paramilitaries, which were formed to counter the guerrilla threat but grew into a threat of their own. The marches come a month after similar anti-guerrilla marches that drew millions into the streets.
Chavez called the attack by Colombia's U.S.-allied government a "war crime." The bombing and raid killed a top rebel leader, Raul Reyes, and 23 other guerrilla fighters who had set up a base just over a mile from the border inside Ecuador.
Colombia has accused both Chavez and Correa of ties with the leftist rebels, and said that was shown by documents found on a laptop seized at the bombed rebel camp. Chavez laughed as he dismissed the accusations Wednesday.
Other documents released by Colombia suggest Reyes was secretly negotiating with representatives of France and other European nations to win freedom for hostages including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American defense contractors.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy appealed directly to the rebels in an interview broadcast Wednesday night on Colombia's RCN television. He said Betancourt's release could persuade countries to no longer consider the FARC a terror group.
"If they let Ingrid Betancourt die, of course, there will be no discussion about that," he said in comments dubbed over in Spanish. "If they free Ingrid Betancourt, maybe some place in the world will see them a little differently."
© MMVIII, CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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- You''''re an Islamist trying to pass as a Frenchy French man with your name.Internet is a good place to share information and meet friends. I recently found a nice web site called pubspa.com where you can meet friends who have same interest in beauty care, massage, wellness and spa treatment. You can also share blog, video, game, photos, etc with people from all over the world. Unlike other online dating sites where you have to pay membership fee, this site is totally free. I already made several interesting friends there.
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- Do you dream of a romantic evening with Michele Malkin tossing puppies off a cliff before you discover she too late she''''s using a razor blade diaphram?
Posted by zootallures2 at 08:07 PM : Mar 06, 2008
+ report abuse
**********
oh man you should see what these muslim miltants does with dogs...ever heard of a walking canine bomb?? of course its different when they are doing it..AM I RIGHT? - Reply to this comment
- Is this how you solve all your problems? Hummmm....You must be a bushie.
Posted by leftyintexas at 09:48 AM : Mar 07, 2008
+ report abuse
******
I AM SORRY but it seems your "suc king his coc k " does not work..I am willing to try something else..oh yeah like just assasinating him.. - Reply to this comment
- Solve this problem once and for all. Kill Chavez.
Posted by cbscrash07 at 06:18 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Is this how you solve all your problems? Hummmm....You must be a bushie. - Reply to this comment
- Hey, you Jewish Princes,
I use to have Joe%u2019s Garage: Acts ll & lll, but my brother stole it.
I bet you are still smoking that stuff. - Reply to this comment
- I''''''''m siding with the Israeli Chavez? What''''''''s wrong now?
Posted by zootallures2 at 07:59 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Other than you''''re a nut-job, not a thing
Posted by jowand at 08:03 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Do you dream of a romantic evening with Michele Malkin tossing puppies off a cliff before you discover she too late she''s using a razor blade diaphram? - Reply to this comment
- In a pigs eye you''''ll never bring home the bacon with statements like this one. You''''re an Islamist trying to pass as a Frenchy French man with your name.
Posted by jowand at 08:02 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Zoot Allures is a guitar solo from Frank Zappa. Should I change it to Jewish Princes....LOL! - Reply to this comment
- I''''m siding with the Israeli Chavez? What''''s wrong now?
Posted by zootallures2 at 07:59 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Other than you''re a nut-job, not a thing - Reply to this comment
- What''''s up being anti-Chavez? He''''s half Israeli. His name says it all.
Posted by zootallures2 at 07:57 PM : Mar 06, 2008
In a pigs eye you''ll never bring home the bacon with statements like this one. You''re an Islamist trying to pass as a Frenchy French man with your name. - Reply to this comment
- Hello Porkchop, don''''t believe any of us have. We aren''''t into terrorism like you are.
Posted by jowand at 07:56 PM : Mar 06, 2008
I''m siding with the Israeli Chavez? What''s wrong now? - Reply to this comment
- Posted by jowand at 07:54 PM : Mar 06, 2008
What''s up being anti-Chavez? He''s half Israeli. His name says it all. - Reply to this comment
- How many of you anti-Chavez posters have invested in drug money laundering stocks? Come on fess up! LOL
Posted by zootallures2 at 07:54 PM : Mar 06, 2008
Hello Porkchop, don''t believe any of us have. We aren''t into terrorism like you are. - Reply to this comment
- Yes, the CIA and Air America don''''t like competition in the coke trade.
Posted by gkc99 at 05:07 PM : Mar 06, 2008
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- How many of you anti-Chavez posters have invested in drug money laundering stocks? Come on fess up! LOL
- Reply to this comment
- Bashir Chavez and Yasser Correa
- Reply to this comment
- Hugo Chevez''s EGO is a threat everyone. Both Venezuela and american and every people every where. Yet here you sit making stupid statements about things you can not effect. Your actions are why he does and can do what he does. God save us all. You people won''t
- Reply to this comment
- Solve this problem once and for all. Kill Chavez.
- Reply to this comment
- When U.S. officials announce the arrest of a notorious arms dealer and drug-runner this afternoon, the fact that his planes flew U.S. supply missions in Iraq will likely go unmentioned.
ABC News...
everything is a spin with no tail and no head.... - Reply to this comment
- "Reyes was accused by the US Department of State and the Colombian government of expanding FARC''''s cocaine trafficking activities and setting related policies, including the production, manufacture, and distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States and other countries.
This is the man that Chavez is so upset about being killed."--Posted by AJMarine1
Yes, the CIA and Air America don''t like competition in the coke trade. - Reply to this comment
- Looks like Daniel Ortega, whom Reagan, SHRUB S.R.
tried to Usurp during their Iran/Contragate
is newly elected again in nicaragua and is
Hosting Ecuadors president, and standing
strong with him in the condemnation against
SHRUB J.R.''s ShoeShine boy Correa..............
too funny........ - Reply to this comment
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."
