MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez tones down: ‘supreme objective’ is to stop Uribe’s ‘war-craze’

Colombian president Uribe leaves office next August 7

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez reaffirmed that his government's “supreme objective” is to “stop the war-craze” of out-going Colombian President Álvaro Uribe, and he assured the “dilemma” of the bilateral crisis is “between words and missiles.”

“We've fixed for ourselves a supreme objective: to stop the war-craze that has gotten a hold of Nariño House” and to “impede” Uribe's government to take “two peoples that are like brothers to war,” Chávez wrote in his Sunday column “Las Líneas de Chávez” (“The lines of Chávez”).

”I hope these reflections help to understand the seriousness of what is happening between Venezuela and Colombia (...) The dilemma is between words or missiles, that is to say, it is between taking to the dialogue table of the peoples of the South the wilful exercise for peace, or to maintain in the region an environment of confrontation with a high danger of war,“ he explained.

The Venezuelan leader broke relations with Colombia over a week ago due to a complaint presented by Bogotá over the presence of guerrilla fighters in Venezuela, and last Friday, Chávez announced a military deployment to the frontier because he considered ”Uribe is capable of anything in these few days he has left.“

On August 7, Uribe will be stepping down and president-elect and former Defence minister Juan Manuel Santos will be taking office.

Chávez said that he would not falter in his ”determination to conquer decent and respectable relations“ with his neighbouring country, and he reiterated that he awaits ”the new Colombian government to understand“ that ”no other interest or desire propels him”.