Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused Colombia of seeking to provoke war, renewing regional tensions after a Colombian attack on a rebel camp in Ecuador sparked the worst Andes diplomatic crisis in a decade.
Documents that Colombia says it recovered from a slain guerrilla leader give the clearest indication yet that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sought to arm and finance insurgents across the border.
WALL STREET JOURNAL
A cache of controversial computer files closely tying Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez to communist rebels seeking to topple Colombia's government appear to be authentic, U.S. intelligence officials say. They are likely to ratchet up pressure for the U.S. to impose sanctions on one of its most important oil suppliers.
The files that have been made public so far haveUnedited transcript of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's comments in an interview with Andres Oppenheimer of The Miami Herald. The transcript was provided by the Colombian presidency. The questions were paraphrased.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez urged Colombia's leftist FARC rebels to free all civilian hostages, including former presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt.
The State Department praised Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for the release of two hostages by a guerrilla group Friday Thursday, but barely acknowledged the role of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez.
