By Helen Murphy and Alexander Cuadros
Nov. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan troops blew up two foot bridges that connect the country with Colombia, aggravating tensions along the border that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavezhas said could lead to war.
Venezuelan soldiers dynamited rope suspension bridges crossing the Tachira River near the Colombian hamlet of Ragonvalia, in the northeastern province of Norte de Santander, Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said in a statement yesterday on the ministry’s Web site. Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez said the bridges were used to move contraband.
“It’s almost like somebody’s hitting a piece of flint trying to get a spark going,” said Adam Isacson, director of the Center for International Policy in Washington. “The minor incidents are coming fast and furious. If you’re looking for a casus belli, something is coming up almost every day.”
Chavez last week told his military to prepare to resist an invasion by Colombia, which signed an agreement last month to give U.S. troops access to Colombian bases. Colombia’s government has denied any intention of attacking Venezuela and says the U.S. accord will help fight drug trafficking and domestic terrorism.
A Venezuelan general, Eusebio Aguero Sequera, told Venezuela’s Globovision television last night that drugs and paramilitaries entered Venezuela across the bridges, while smugglers carried food and fuel through the area.
“We’ve been informed of other pedestrian passes that will be destroyed given the proper government authorization,” Aguero said.
Border Crossing
Venezuelan troops began to cross the bridges into Colombian territory, daily El Tiempo reported, citing unidentified Ragonvalia officials as saying. Colombian residents threw stones at the soldiers, who detonated explosives to destroy the bridges, the Bogota-based newspaper said.
“This action represents a violation of international and humanitarian law,” Silva said in the statement. “It is an aggression against civilians. The bridges destroyed on the Venezuelan side are essentially community foot-crossings.”
Carrizalez accused Colombia of “manipulating the story.” He said no Venezuelan forces entered Colombia and his country had committed no aggression against its neighbor.
Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have crumbled since last year after President Alvaro Uribe accused Chavez of financing leftist Colombian rebels. Colombia says the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC as the drug- funded rebels are known, uses Venezuela as a transit route to smuggle drugs overseas.
Narco Trafficking
Colombia’s border with Venezuela is rife with guerrillas and paramilitary groups, as well as independent narco- traffickers. Colombia is the source of as much as 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.
“We have army personnel in the area,” said Silva. Colombia said it would denounce the acts before the Organization of American States and theUnited Nations Security Council.
Chavez ordered an increase of troops along the 2,000- kilometer (1,250-mile) border between Venezuela and Colombia earlier this month and said he may declare a state of emergency after two officials from the National Guard patrolling near a border post were shot and killed by unidentified people.
“It’s an act of calculated hostility,” said Alfredo Rangel, a former member of Colombia’s state Security Council and head of a Bogota research group, the Security and Democracy Foundation. “You can’t say this was something accidental.”
Colombian Agents
Chavez said in July he would end imports from his Andean neighbor because of the U.S. military pact and Colombian allegations the FARC had obtained weapons originally sold to Venezuela.
Colombian exports to Venezuela, its second-biggest trading partner, plunged 50 percent in September from the same month last year, according to Colombia’s national statistics agency.
“There’s a strong domestic policy incentive on both sides” to have a border skirmish, said Isacson.
Approval ratings for both heads of state have fallen. Elections to choose 167 lawmakers in the Venezuelan National Assembly will be held in September 2010. Uribe may run for a third straight presidential term next year if a referendum is approved by a national court and in a popular vote.
‘Patch Things Up’
“Once this election season is over, everyone will patch things up,” Isacson said.
Colombia’s intelligence agency, the Administrative Security Department, or DAS, said last week it detained four Venezuelan national guardsmen crossing into Colombia in a motorboat. Venezuela earlier arrested three individuals it said were DAS agents and has held a Colombian on spying charges since September.
Last month, nine Colombians were found shot to death in Venezuelan territory
Spokeswomen at the Venezuelan Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.
“We’re not going to see an all out war,” Isacson said. “But we could see a several-day running battle -- an actual shooting battle -- between official forces, that claims a lot of casualties and ends quickly with one side trying to show its superior military prowess.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Helen Murphy in Bogota atHmurphy1@bloomberg.netAlexander Cuadros in Bogota atacuadros@bloomberg.net
Last Updated: November 20, 2009 00:00 EST
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