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Chavez threatens Colombia

Tensions are sparked by the killing of a FARC leader in Ecuador.

CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez ordered tanks and thousands of troops to the border with Colombia on Sunday, accusing it of pushing South America to the brink of war by killing a top rebel leader on Ecuadoran soil.

Denouncing Colombia's killing of the rebel commander, Chavez said Venezuela will respond militarily if Colombia violates its border. He ordered Venezuela's embassy in Bogota closed.

"Mr. Defense Minister, move 10 battalions to the border with Colombia for me immediately - tank battalions. Deploy the air force," Chavez said during his weekly TV and radio program. "We don't want war, but we aren't going to permit the U.S. empire, which is the master (of Colombia) ... to come divide us."

Chavez called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe "a criminal," and branded his government a "terrorist state."

Colombian troops killed rebel leader Raul Reyes, who was the public face of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia as its spokesman, in an attack early Saturday morning. Reyes was considered a possible successor to the FARC's No. 1 spot.

Colombian officials have long complained Ecuador's military does not control its sparsely populated border, allowing rebels to take refuge on its territory. The same holds true for Venezuela, though Chavez denies his country provides refuge to the FARC.

In protest of Colombia's raid, Ecuador recalled its ambassador from Bogota but said commercial ties would remain unaffected. A spokesman for Uribe, Cesar Mauricio Velasquez, announced Sunday that Colombia would apologize to Ecuador for the military incursion on its territory.

Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa, said the rebels were "bombed and massacred as they slept, using precision technology."

Ecuadoran soldiers recovered the bodies of 15 rebels in their jungle camp 1.2 miles from the border, and found three wounded guerrillas. Before the Ecuadorans arrived, Colombian commandos removed the bodies of Reyes and one other rebel.

Chavez called the raid "cowardly murder."

"This could be the start of a war in South America," Chavez said. He warned Uribe: "If it occurs to you to do this in Venezuela, President Uribe, I'll send some Sukhois" - Russian warplanes recently bought by Venezuela.

He called Uribe a "lapdog" of Washington, saying "Dracula's fangs are covered in blood."

Neither Colombia's foreign minister nor the country's military leadership would comment on Chavez's actions.

Chavez has increasingly revealed his sympathies for the FARC. In January, he asked that it be struck from lists of terrorist groups internationally.

In Texas, U.S. National Security Council spokesman Gordon Johndroe said of Chavez's latest moves: "This is an odd reaction by Venezuela to Colombia's efforts against the FARC, a terrorist organization that continues to hold Colombians, Americans and others hostage."

[Last modified March 3, 2008, 00:49:54]