Venezuela breaks diplomatic relations with neighboring Colombia

President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela announced the country has broken off diplomatic ties with neighbor Colombia Thursday over accusations Bogota has been providing safe haven for leftist guerrillas.

In 2008, the two south American countries were on the verge of war when Columbian military staged a raid into Ecuador to destroy a cross-border rebel camp. "I announce with a tear in the heart: Venezuela breaks off from this moment all relations with the government of Colombia," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told reporters in his presidential palace in Caracas. Inquirer.net reports

Colombia, Washington's staunchest military ally in the region, and Venezuela, a Cuban ally that has accumulated an arsenal of modern Russian warplanes and weapons, have frequently quarreled over the past few years.

The putative help Chavez is accused of giving Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas has fueled much of the ill-will.

Chavez's decision to break ties came in response to Uribe's charge that rebels from the FARC and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgency group were using Venezuela as a rear base with impunity. Luis Layos, Colombia's representative to the Organization of American States told Washington his country has enough evidence to show Venezuela's support to the rebel movement. Showing graphic photos of victims of attacks he said were carried out by Venezuelan-based guerrillas, he said Caracas must "accept its obligation" to bar the rebels from its territory. Venezuela has denied the accusations saying the outgoing Colombian president Alvaro Uribe was responsible for the worsening diplomatic relations. "Uribe is capable of ordering a fake camp be built on the Venezuelan side to attack it and cause a war, Chavez claimed.