Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told a summit of fellow left-wing leaders on Monday that the front-running presidential candidate in neighboring Colombia was a menace to stability in Latin America.
“He is a threat to all of us,” Chavez said of former Colombian defense minister Juan Manuel Santos, who leads opinion polls ahead of next month’s election.
The comment will dampen diplomats’ hopes of a rapprochement between US ally Colombia and Venezuela — whose government is the region’s leading critic of Washington — if Santos wins and replaces his former boss, President Alvaro Uribe.
FEUD
A feud between Uribe and Chavez has squeezed trade between the Andean nations and heightened border tensions.
Drawing applause from a partisan audience attending the Venezuelan-led ALBA summit, Chavez cited Santos’ record as defense minister including a controversial military strike against Colombian guerrillas in Ecuadorean territory in 2008.
“These people feel they have the support of the Yankees,” he said, also quoting recent comments by Santos about the need to keep “terrorists” at bay.
Chavez hosted allies from around the region, including Cuba’s Raul Castro, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez, for the summit, which also coincided with the bicentennial of Venezuelan independence.
During the day, the former soldier led military processions and other celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Venezuela’s declaration of independence from Spain.
Opposition parties are angry that Chavez has turned the bicentennial into a show of support for his government. They say he has hijacked Venezuela, ruined its economy, and turned it into a Cuban-style dictatorship.
Soldiers from allies around the world, including Cuba and Libya, paraded in Caracas, chanting revolutionary slogans. Newly bought Chinese jets and Russian guns were on display by the Venezuelan military.
“Civilians and soldiers united, the people and their armed forces, guaranteeing Venezuela’s independence,” roared Chavez, dressed in military fatigues.
MENTOR
His friend and mentor, former Cuban president Fidel Castro, sent a glowing tribute effectively saying Chavez had inherited his mantle as the region’s champion against US power.
“He is, today, the person who most worries the imperialists, for his capacity to influence the masses and for the immense natural resources of the nation,” Castro wrote.
“Both the empire as well as the mercenaries at its service, intoxicated by lies and consumerism are ever more at risk of underestimating him and his heroic people, but I have no doubt they will get an unforgettable lesson,” Castro said.
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