MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombia’s Santos sends ‘peace and respect message” to Chavez

The Venezuelan president has been so far uncharacteristically silent about the latest Colombian events

Colombian presidential candidate and favourite to win this month’s run-off Juan Manuel Santos anticipated he would be proposing Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez a “rebuilding of bilateral links”, if he is finally elected.

What has been interpreted as a message of peace, following President Chavez statements who anticipated a ‘catastrophic’ relation if former Defence minister Santos was elected, the Colombian hopeful proposed mutual respect regarding ideas and systems, and re-establishing commerce links between the two main trade partners.

Santos also promised, if elected, to have Colombia play a more international role, such as Mexico and Chile, and reduce US dependency in security matters.

“One can have radical differences regarding political ideas and how to interpret democracy and what is a development model, but if we can manage to respect those differences…we could have magnificent relations and excellent trade and good cooperation along the border”, said Santos in several interviews following his Sunday victory over former Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus (47% to 21%) but just short of the 50% plus one to avoid the June 20 run off.

“I aspire to this because we are not going to agree in many things, but we can agree to respect our differences”, insisted Santos in direct reference to Venezuelan president Chavez,

In what was interpreted as a reply to Santos statements Venezuela's Justice Minister Tarek Aissami said he hopes that Venezuela and Colombia's next government will “respect each other like brothers” and that the new president will abandon “agendas of war.”

El Aissami said that Venezuela “votes for peace in Colombia” and that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hopes to work with Colombia's new administration “on joint projects, as brother populations”. This was also Caracas first direct public reaction to the outcome of Colombia’s first round presidential election.

Chavez has remained uncharacteristically silent since the results simply saying that he hoped that ”God lights the way for the people of Colombia to find the path to peace“.

Chavez has called Santos “a threat to the region” and a “wolf camouflaged a Little Red Riding Hood” because of the way he is ”going around searching for votes”.

In related news the left-leaning Alternative Democratic Pole (PDA) party said it would support Green Party's Antanas Mockus in the upcoming June 20 runoff.

PDA leader and former presidential candidate Gustavo Petro expressed he would support Mockus if they could both agree on a series of initiatives that included “an eradication of the country's mafia”.

He also remarked his intentions to improve relations with neighbouring countries based on “mutual respect” and create a “public system in which health and education are fundamental human rights”.

PDA expressed that these talks, in which they considered supporting the Green party, do not imply a pact “based on bureaucratic dues” or mean that they will become part of Mockus' party in case candidate Juan Manuel Santos wins after the runoff voting.

On Monday Colombian Conservatives and the Radical party said they would be supporting Santos.