Posted by
Cary Wesberry on Sunday, March 09, 2008 9:08:50 PM
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela will immediately restore diplomacy with Colombia but ties are still fragile, the government said on Sunday, after this week's resolution of a regional dispute that had raised fears of war.
A Colombian raid on a Marxist guerrilla camp in Ecuador last week sparked the region's worst diplomatic crisis in years, with Venezuela and Ecuador sending troops to their borders with Colombia, their U.S.-backed neighbor.
Leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cut ties with Colombia but, following a handshake at a regional summit on Friday, promised to quickly withdraw the 10 army battalions he had sent to the border and normalize relations.
Colombia's March 1 raid on a Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, rebel camp killed over 20 fighters including the rebel's second in command, Raul Reyes.
The attack came just days after the FARC released four lawmakers they had held hostage for years in a deal negotiated by Chavez, who has good relations with the guerrillas.
The foreign ministry said on Sunday that Venezuela would send diplomats, including a soon-to-be-named new ambassador, back to Bogota immediately and was ready to receive Colombian diplomats "as soon as possible."
Despite all sides de-escalating the conflict in recent days, relations are still delicate between Colombia's pro-Washington government and left-wing nationalists in Venezuela, Ecuador and Bolivia.
Of course Hugo Chavez blames the United States for all this. Heaven forbid we help Colombia kill terrorists in order to protect its people. The Communist freaks of Venezuela, in my opinion, interfered in operations that were clearly none of their damned business. Anything Chavez can do to stick his big fat blunted nose into a situation he will do. As long as the cameras are on him he's happy, even if that means starting a war to do it. I for one am sick of seeing that man's face on TV and in articles. I can't believe I'm saying this, but Pat Robertson was right about him.