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“All we want is for things to go well for Venezuela”, Santos replies to Maduro

Saturday, June 1st 2013 - 02:33 UTC
Full article 9 comments
Maduro accused Santos of “a stab in the back” for meeting with opposition leader Capriles Maduro accused Santos of “a stab in the back” for meeting with opposition leader Capriles

Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos on Friday dismissed as “preposterous” Venezuelan charges that his government is backing a conspiracy to destabilize the leftist-ruled neighbor.

Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro leveled the charge late Thursday, angrily accusing the Colombian leader of ‘stabbing Caracas’ in the back by meeting with Venezuelan opposition leader Henrique Capriles.

“It's preposterous to think that the Colombian government is aware of, or even worse, that it is supporting some kind of action to destabilize the government of Venezuela,” Santos said.

“We would be the worst affected if Venezuela had some kind of problem. What we want is for things to go well for Venezuela,” he said, speaking at a public event in Palmyra, Colombia.

Tensions have soared between the two countries since Santos welcomed Capriles to the presidential palace here on Wednesday.

A photograph of the two shaking hands got wide play in Venezuela, where Capriles and Maduro are locked in a bitter dispute over the outcome of April 14 presidential elections to replace the late Hugo Chavez.

Maduro was proclaimed the winner by a 1.5 percent margin, but Capriles has refused to concede, insisting that the election was stolen. His visit to Bogotá was seen as part of an effort to get international support for his cause.

Venezuela reacted by recalling its representative to peace talks in Havana between the Colombian government and the country's largest guerrilla group, and announcing it was reviewing relations with Bogota.

Maduro late Thursday accused Santos of playing into the hands of a right-wing conspiracy to destabilize the Venezuelan government.

“I doubt President Santos' sincerity when he sticks a dagger in Venezuela's back and allows himself to be used to clean the face of a conspiracy against Venezuela,” he said.

Venezuela and Colombia had tense relations during much of Chavez's 14 years in power, but Santos has worked to improve them despite ideological differences with the leftist government in Caracas.

On Friday, he recalled an agreement he reached with Chavez in 2010 to restore relations.

“For the good of Venezuela, and for the good of Colombia, we can resolve any misunderstanding in a civilized manner, with prudence, through diplomatic channels,” Santos said.

Earlier, Colombia's chief negotiator at the peace talks with the FARC acknowledged that Venezuela had played a positive role “and we do not want this to be interrupted.”

”We want to certify that Venezuela has in fact been very useful, as has President (Nicolas) Maduro,” Humberto de la Calle told Radio Caracol.

The first peace negotiations in a decade opened in November in Havana between the government and the rebel group. Currently in recess, they are set to resume June 11.
 

Top Comments

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  • Anglotino

    Poor Colombia, stuck next door to what can only be described as an extremely dysfunctional country.

    Considering the number of Venezuelans immigrating to Colombia now, Santos definitely doesn't want it to turn into a flood. Maduro has lived too long in a fictitious democracy to understand how democracies actually work.

    Capriles is not doing anything wrong. He is within his right to not concede the election. He is within his right to travel abroad. And it is within his right as the leader of an opposition political party to meet with foreign governments and make his case or discuss issues.

    Jun 01st, 2013 - 03:01 am 0
  • Elena

    I hope as President Santos said, that Venezuela gets better, my hope is for them to stabilize themselves politically so they can tackle their economic problems. Capriles indeed has every right to represent his side of the events, hope he can keep traveling across latam to get the regional support Venezuela needs atm.

    Jun 01st, 2013 - 06:06 am 0
  • Conqueror

    Typical “tactics”. Problems “at home”, accuse someone of something. Blow it up out of all proportion. Create “an enemy” for the population. It's possible Colombia will be accused of disrupting supplies of toilet paper. That might be effective. Constipation, because you haven't got anything with which to wipe your bum, can make you really irritable. Probably be unable to “Think” of anything except the pain in your bum. (Just look at that. Pain in the bum and you get to “Think”.) Shall we look forward to bog roll shortages in somewhere like argieland? And a bog roll shortage in Uruguay would be horrific. Look at the size of “Pepe”. Probably uses a roll per visit. Especially if he was on his way to argieland. Thinking seriously about visiting argieland, for me, seems to act like a very powerful laxative.

    Jun 01st, 2013 - 02:11 pm 0
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