U.S. says Chavez break with Colombia is "petulant"

CARACAS (Reuters) - The United States on Friday criticized Venezuela's breaking of ties with U.S. ally Colombia as "petulant" and urged President Hugo Chavez to address Bogota's charges that Colombian leftist rebels were sheltering on Venezuelan soil.

The State Department made the comments after Venezuela's army warned Andean neighbour Colombia it was ready to repel any attacks a day after Chavez severed relations in protest at the Colombian allegations of the guerrilla presence in his nation.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it was unfortunate that Venezuela, still a leading U.S. oil supplier despite Chavez's anti-U.S. stance, would not allow an international commission to verify the Colombian charges, as requested by Bogota at the Organisation of American States.

"It was a petulant response by Venezuela to cut off relations with Colombia," Crowley said in Washington.

He told reporters the U.S. government hoped for a more "constructive" reply from Caracas.

Leftist Chavez's breaking of ties with Bogota has ratcheted up tensions between OPEC member Venezuela and U.S.-backed Colombia in a volatile Andean region plagued by marauding guerrilla armies and drug-trafficking gangs.

As Latin American governments sought to defuse the rift, the top U.S. diplomat for the region urged Venezuela to take Colombia's allegations seriously and said he hoped the two sides could begin a constructive dialogue.

"I don't think that it is in anybody's interest at this particular point to escalate the rhetoric," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela told reporters. "We want to encourage (a) kind of lowering ... of the decibels."

Venezuelan leaders heaped invective on outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, calling him a "warmonger". But they said the situation on the border with Colombia remained calm and normal on Friday.

Despite the break in ties, the main crossing point between San Antonio del Tachira in Venezuela and Cucuta in Colombia was open on Friday and vehicles and pedestrians were crossing, witnesses said. There was no sign of any immediate military build-up or major troop movements.

Most analysts believe a military clash is unlikely, but Colombia and Venezuela are among the most militarized nations in South America and have sparred and squabbled in the past over border security and guerrillas.

Earlier on Friday, Venezuelan Defence Minister General Carlos Mata appeared on television, in military fatigues and flanked by top commanders, to declare loyalty to Chavez and to sternly warn Uribe's government against attempting an attack..

Uribe, who will be replaced by President-elect Juan Manuel Santos on August 7, has ramped up accusations that Chavez's government gives free rein to left-wing guerrillas in Venezuelan territory. Chavez routinely portrays Colombia as a dangerous regional pawn of the "imperialist" United States.

ALERT ON BORDER

Venezuela has dismissed as lies the charges by Colombia, which presented photos, videos and maps to the OAS to back its allegations about the presence of Colombian rebel leaders and fighters at what it called "summer camps" inside Venezuela.

Defence minister Mata said in his broadcast the Venezuelan military, which has some 20,000 troops along the porous 1,375-mile (2,200 km) border, was "operationally prepared."

"The Venezuelan people and the Colombian government should know that the (Venezuelan) Bolivarian National Armed Forces, as guarantor of the nation's security, will respond firmly if any foreign forces seek to violate our sacred soil," Mata said.

Declaring the diplomatic break with Bogota on Thursday, Chavez ordered "maximum alert" on the frontier.

Bilateral trade, which once stood at $7 billion annually, has plummeted since Chavez suspended commercial ties last year to protest at a deal by Bogota allowing U.S. forces to use Colombian military bases.

Analysts say both countries could lose if the rift deepens. Venezuelan private industry association Conindustria urged the country's leaders to resume dialogue with Bogota, saying the falloff in trade hurt Venezuela's economy too.

"Unfortunately, the ones who pay the consequences of these conflicts are consumers, because they suffer the problems of scarcity and rising prices through the break in the commercial flow between the two countries," Conindustria said.

Chavez has publicly expressed the hope Colombian-Venezuelan relations, which were turbulent with Uribe in power, can be returned to normal under Santos, who has been careful to avoid public comment on the dispute so far.

Santos, who as defence minister played a major role in Uribe's energetic military sweeps against guerrilla groups like the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, has said he favours dialogue with Caracas.

Colombia has said it could take its allegations of cross-border attacks by rebels it says are based in Venezuela to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Bogota alleges Venezuela is failing in its international obligations by not acting against the drug-trafficking guerrillas.

(Additional reporting by Eyanir Chinea in Caracas and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Philip Barbara)

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