Venezuela, Colombia pledge to fight border violence

Reuters Foundation-Alertnet.com (Updates with joint news conference by presidents) By Magdalena Morales

PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela, April 23 (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe said on Wednesday Venezuela had promised to help stop Colombian guerrillas and paramilitaries from carrying out cross-border raids from Venezuelan territory.

Uribe and his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez held talks in eastern Venezuela to improve security along the 1,400-mile (2,200-km) border, where the violent spillover from Colombia's war has strained ties between the two Andean neighbors.

Before the meeting in the industrial city of Puerto Ordaz, both governments had repeatedly accused the other of not doing enough to counter the cross-border activities of Colombia's Marxist rebels and their rightist paramilitary foes.

"We are going to make every possible effort so that neither guerrillas nor paramilitaries will be able to penetrate that frontier," Uribe told a news conference after several hours of talks with the Venezuelan leader.

Uribe, a stern lawyer who has vowed to defeat the guerrilla enemies of his government, and Chavez, an extrovert leftist former paratrooper, had appeared to be uneasy neighbors.

But, looking relaxed and at ease with each other, they took pains on Wednesday to stress they wanted to improve relations and leave behind past recriminations over frontier security.

They also announced a series of cooperation projects, in areas such as energy, transport, infrastructure and forestry, and an agreement for Venezuelan importers to pay around $300 million owed to Colombian exporters. Payment of this has been blocked by tight currency controls existing in Venezuela.

Chavez said the two governments had decided to deal with the sensitive border issue in private in the future and avoid what he called "microphone diplomacy". He described Wednesday's talks as "frank, warm and friendly"

In the weeks before the meeting, Uribe's government, the United States' closest ally in Latin America, had repeatedly accused Chavez, who is portrayed by his critics as an anti-U.S. maverick, of providing a haven for Colombian Marxist rebels.

TRADE ALSO A PRIORITY

Bogota had been investigating complaints by border residents that Venezuelan military aircraft bombed a Colombian frontier hamlet on March 21, killing and wounding several people. Local residents said the aircraft supported Colombian rebels who were fighting rightist paramilitary groups.

Chavez's government fiercely denied these charges. It had in turn accused Colombia's army of collaborating with the paramilitaries on the rugged frontier, a patchwork of mountain, jungle and savanna, where killings and kidnappings are rife.

Both Uribe and Chavez stressed the importance of preserving their countries' traditionally strong trading links.

The proposed cooperation projects they mentioned included one to provide Venezuelan electricity to Colombia and another for a pipeline that would carry Colombian gas to refineries and power stations in Venezuela.

Other proposals focused on cross-border river transport and joint hydroelectric and forestry projects.

Both governments also signed an agreement to improve the treatment of refugees displaced by the war in Colombia.

The two leaders agreed to meet again in Medellin, Colombia on July 22 to review progress made in improving relations. (Additional reporting by Silene Ramirez, Pascal Fletcher)