CARACAS (AFP) — Relations between Venezuela and Colombia hit the lowest level in years after the two countries' presidents traded insults and Caracas froze ties with its neighbor.
The highly-public row came a week ahead of a pivotal referendum in which Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is pushing for sweeping constitutional changes that would bolster his authority and eliminate term limits.
The leftist Venezuelan leader and his conservative counterpart in Colombia Alvaro Uribe exchanged angry accusations after Bogota dropped Chavez as a mediator in efforts to secure the release of hostages held by the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC.)
Colombia's Foreign Minister Alvaro Araujo said on Monday it remained unclear what exactly Chavez meant when he said the previous day that he was putting relations in "a freezer."
"For us, that is not a term that is clear," Araujo said.
Chavez expressed outrage that Colombia withdrew support for his mediation role.
"I don't trust anybody in Uribe's government," Chavez said in a speech on Sunday.
Uribe didn't mince his words either, accusing Chavez of "talking of imperialism while you want to build an empire based on your budget."
He also accused the Venezuelan leader of failing to act as a neutral go-between in efforts to get the hostages released.
"Your words, your positions, suggest you are not interested in peace in Colombia, but rather in Colombia becoming the victim of a terrorist government of the FARC," Uribe said.
The Colombian president had expressed anger that Chavez ignored his demand not to speak directly with Colombian generals about the hostages.
The efforts to swap about 45 hostages against jailed rebels gained a high profile with the involvement of French President Nicolas Sarkozy who met Chavez in Paris last week to discuss the situation.
One of the hostages, former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt, also holds French citizenship. Three Americans are among those held by the FARC.
Uribe accused Chavez of fomenting hate against Colombia in Venezuela to rally domestic support among voters.
Venezuelans vote on Sunday in a referendum over a controversial reform of the constitution that would significantly expand Chavez's powers and allow him to seek reelection as many times as he wants.
Chavez also said he was now ruling out rejoining the Andean Community of Nations, a trade bloc of which Colombia is a prominent member.
Venezuela withdrew from the group last year following its decision to join Mercosur, a different trade association led by Argentina and Brazil.
Chavez is also involved in a spat with Spain after King Juan Carlos told the Venezuelan leader during a recent summit in Chile: "Why don't you just shut up?"
"Until the king of Spain apologizes, I'm freezing relations with Spain," Chavez said in his speech on Sunday.
Spain played down the comments.
The government has no intention "of aggravating (the dispute) unless something new, something different, arises but this is not the case," Spain's secretary of state for foreign affairs, Bernardino Leon, said on Monday.
Spain's secretary of state for Ibero-American affairs, Trinidad Jimenez, said she would meet with Venezuela's ambassador to Spain later on Monday to find out the "scope" of Chavez's announcement.
The royal outburst came after Chavez called former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist" and repeatedly interrupted a speech by current Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
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