Chavez asks Spain to mediate in Colombia relations (Roundup)

Sep 11, 2009, 14:12 GMT

Madrid - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Friday urged Spain to mediate in the Colombian armed conflict, saying Madrid could use it influence to 'help a lot'.

Chavez made the comments before meeting Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who offered him Spanish help in improving the relations between Venezuela and Colombia.

Chavez made a brief visit to Madrid to wrap up his 11-day tour of the the Middle East, North Africa and Europe.

Venezuela accuses Colombia of facilitating US control of Latin America by permitting Washington to install new military bases on its territory.

Spain was willing to do whatever it could to facilitate dialogue, the Spanish government said in a communique.

Chavez told journalists Spain could help Colombia achieve peace with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and to prevent the installation of US bases in Colombia.

The Venezuelan president urged Colombia to accept a dialogue with the FARC guerrillas with the mediation of countries such as Argentina, Brazil or Spain.

Zapatero told Chavez he trusted Venezuela would back Spain's efforts to reinforce relations between the European Union and Latin America during its EU presidency in the first half of 2010.

The relations were to take a big step forward at a summit between the EU, Latin America and Caribbean in Madrid, Zapatero said.

Chavez then met King Juan Carlos, who has grown a short beard during the summer holidays.

'You have a beard, like Fidel,' the president joked, in a reference to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro. - 'I just wanted to change my look a bit,' the king replied.

The relations between Spain and Venezuela cooled in November 2007, when Juan Carlos told Chavez 'to shut up' after the Venezuelan leader slammed former Spanish premier Jose Maria Aznar as a 'fascist' at an Ibero-American summit in Chile.

Tension subsided when the king received Chavez in July 2008.

On leaving his hotel, Chavez described Zapatero and the king as 'friends' and said Spanish companies had business worth 8 billion euros (12 billion dollars) in Venezuela.

The president earlier criticized what he described as a media campaign against Venezuela in Spain and other Western countries, saying he chose to totally ignore such 'distortion of the facts.'

Chavez also rejected the idea of Spain as Latin America's gate to Europe. 'We do not need these gates, we should not continue repeating colonialist cliches. We are equals,' he said.

Dozens of people protested Chavez' visit as he entered a bookshop where he was to give press interviews, shouting slogans such as 'Chavez out.' A pro-Chavez group responded with slogans such as 'Long live Cuba.'

A visit to Spain was not originally on the programme of Chavez' foreign tour.

Spanish government sources said Chavez had requested the visit, while Zapatero was always interested in reinforcing ties with Latin America.

Chavez' tour has been marked by controversial moves, such as recognizing the Georgian breakaway republics of Abkhazia and South Ossetia during a visit to Russia, announcing petrol exports to Iran, and accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians.