In the past two years, Colombia's ties with its two neighbors, Venezuela and Ecuador, have been subject to several twists and turns.
Now, new troubles appear to lie ahead as Colombia is planning four new U.S. military bases near Colombia's border with Venezuela. Moreover, the Colombian government said it had video evidence of Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa's links with Colombian rebels.
On Tuesday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez voiced strong opposition to Colombia's plan to permit construction of four new U.S. military bases on Colombian territory.
"They are surrounding Venezuela with military bases," Chavez said in a televised speech.
The plan, which was also interpreted by Latin America as an increase of U.S. military presence in the region, was called "a threat" against Venezuela by Chavez. He noted that it "obliges us to review our relations" with Colombia.
Colombia is opening its doors "to those who constantly attack us and to those who are getting ready new attacks against us," he said.
However, Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said the plan was designed to boost Bogota's anti-terror and anti-drug efforts.
The dispute between Caracas and Bogota over the military bases was a new setback for normalizing bilateral relations.
Sharing a border line of some 2,200 km, tensions between the two countries have mounted time and again in recent years. Relations had soured especially since Uribe abruptly called a halt to Chavez's mediation role in the efforts to release the hostages taken by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) in November 2007, as the Venezuelan leader had allegedly broken their agreement.
Chavez responded by withdrawing the Venezuelan ambassador from Bogota, saying Colombia "deserves a better president."
Despite his verbal clashes with Uribe, Chavez helped to facilitate the unilateral release of several high-profile hostages who had been held by the FARC for several years in early 2008.
But in early March, when the Colombian army launched a cross-border attack against the FARC on Ecuadorian territory, the Caracas-Bogota ties were complicated yet again, although the tension later eased at a Rio Group summit.
Their relationship hit another low in May 2008, with Colombia accusing Chavez of giving financial and military support to the FARC, and Venezuela charging that the Colombian troops had crossed into Venezuelan territory.
Each side, however, has denied the other's charges.
Yet a lengthy meeting between Uribe and Chavez in Miraflores Place in the Venezuelan capital on April 14, 2009, was a positive sign that relations were improving.
During the meeting, they discussed and exchanged opinions on political and economic issues. Five agreements on cooperation were signed.
The rocky relationship between Ecuador and Colombia is becoming increasingly complex because of the FARC. Bogota asserted on Sunday that it has sent a copy of a video, in which a top FARC leader said the group gave financial support to Correa in the 2006 presidential campaign, to the Organization of American States (OAS) and Interpol.
Correa has denied that he has ever received any funds from the FARC. He said such accusations were "fake" and called them attacks from the conservative forces on the continent against his government.
"They want to take me to the International Penal Court for being a terrorist in order to mask the true terrorists, the drug trafficking-politicians and the para-politicians," Correa said.
Other Ecuadorian officials confirmed that the video was edited and lacked credibility.
The Ecuadorian government severed ties with Colombia in March 2008 after the Colombian army's cross-border raid against a FARC camp on the Ecuadorian territory, saying such a move violated Ecuador's sovereignty.
Uribe later accused Ecuador of harboring terrorists, while Correa called Uribe a dictator.
Earlier this month, Ecuador asked Interpol to arrest Juan Manuel Santos, Colombia's defense minister at the time of the cross-border raid. But Interpol refused to do so.
Correa on Saturday called the FARC video Colombia's "revenge" against his government for seeking Santo's arrest.
(Xinhua News Agency July 22, 2009)
