Venezuelan, Colombian presidents vow to boost security at border
Anchorage Daily News-Nando Media-AP Online By FABIOLA SANCHEZ, Associated Press
PUERTO ORDAZ, Venezuela (April 23, 5:50 p.m. ADT) - Colombia and Venezuela agreed Wednesday to increase security along their remote border to stop crossings by Colombian guerrillas and paramilitaries.
Colombia has been fighting a 38-year-war against the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, and the smaller National Liberation Army as well as illegal paramilitary militias.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe and Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Colombia's conflict increasingly threatened the stability of the entire Andean region. The two countries share a 1,500-mile border.
"We are going to do everything necessary so that neither rebels nor paramilitaries can cross the border," Uribe said after the leaders' one-day meeting in the southeastern mining town of Puerto Ordaz.
"We value the firm determination that President Chavez has expressed to coordinate (border) efforts," Uribe said.
Both leaders played down allegations that Venezuela harbors leftist Colombian guerrillas and that Venezuelan aircraft bombed rightist paramilitaries inside Colombia.
The two leaders agreed to meet again on July 22 in Medellin, Colombia.
Venezuela had been angered by Colombian accusations that Caracas shelters leftist insurgents.
"We don't understand how Venezuela has allowed itself to become a refuge for Colombian criminals," Colombian Attorney General Luis Camilo Osorio said in remarks published Sunday.
Venezuela, in turn, accused Colombia's military of having links with paramilitaries responsible for human rights crimes.
Chavez's government worries that increased fighting associated with the U.S.-backed Plan Colombia, which targets drug trafficking, is spilling into Venezuela.
Asked about Colombian claims that FARC guerrilla leader Angel Paris is hiding in Caracas, Chavez said his opponents "say everyone has passed through Caracas," including Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein.