Uribe, Chavez trade insults as Venezuela freezes ties (Roundup)

Nov 26, 2007, 18:00 GMT

Caracas/Bogota - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez continued to strongly criticize Colombian President Alvaro Uribe for relieving him of his mediating role in hostage talks with Colombian rebels.

On Sunday, Chavez said he had 'frozen' diplomatic relations with Spain and Colombia after a series of prominent spats with the leaders of the two countries.

Chavez called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a 'liar and cynic.' Uribe responded in Bogota that Chavez wanted to set the Latin American continent 'on fire' to push through his 'expansionist' policies.

'I have lost confidence in the Colombian government, I trust nobody anymore,' Chavez said Sunday in Maracaibo.

Chavez had been negotiating a prisoner swap with the leftist Colombian guerilla group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), but was stripped of his duties after speaking directly with the head of Colombia's military - something that had been expressly forbidden by Uribe.

The freeze in relations would have political and economic effects. Chavez said he was also keeping a watchful eye on US troops stationed in Colombia.

Uribe held nothing back in his response to Chavez's move.

'Your behaviour gives the impression that you do not care about peace in Colombia, and you would rather make Colombia a victim of a terrorist FARC government,' Uribe told Chavez.

Several Colombian news outlets reported Monday that France has offered political assylum to opposition Senator Piedad Cordoba, who also served as a mediator for the swap alongside Chavez.

According to the reports, the French Embassy in Bogota made the offer after the legislator reportedly received death threats. Cordoba - a determined critic of Uribe - declined the proposal.

Chavez also said relations with Spain would be on hold until King Juan Carlos apologized for telling him to 'shut up' at an Iberian- American summit in Chile earlier this month. Juan Carlos' comments came after Chavez called former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a 'fascist.'

Madrid was waiting Monday to know 'exactly' what Chavez's move means. Trinidad Jimenez, the Spanish secretary of state for Latin America, said there was no immediate indication that it would change diplomatic or economic ties between the two countries.

The Spanish government suspected that Chavez's attack were intended for the public within Venezuela, ahead of Sunday's referendum on changes to the country's Constitution.