Colombia's foreign minister snapped back at Venezuela's Hugo Chavez, telling the neighboring president to cease interference in Colombia's affairs.
"Chavez doesn't waste a chance to mistreat Colombia and its government", Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said today in a statement."The Colombian government asks President Chavez to cease his political aggressions".
Araujo's comments come after Chavez said today that Colombia doesn't want to reach a peace agreement in its decades-long conflict with rebels. Chavez, who brokered the release of two hostages held by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia earlier this month, has repeatedly attacked Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for inciting conflict.
"The government that Colombia has today doesn't want peace", Chavez said during a visit to Managua, Nicaragua. "I'm convinced that this conflict doesn't have a military solution. We have to look for a political solution".
The FARC, as the Marxist group is known, holds about 750 hostages in jungle camps to extort money for its four-decade war against the government.
Chavez "fails to recognize the terrorist actions of the guerrillas, its participation in drug trafficking, and its crimes against children, women and the elderly", Araujo said.
Chavez said on Jan. 11 that the FARC weren't terrorists, comments that were condemned by countries including the U.S., Germany, the U.K. and France. The FARC was one of 22 organizations designated as terrorist on Nov. 1, 2001, by the State Department. The designation blocks the assets of organizations and individuals linked to terrorism.
Source: Blonberg.com