Colombia accuses Venezuela of an illegal, Cuba-like trade blockade
President Uribe says other nations are taking advantage of crisis
Bogota: Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has accused Venezuela of imposing an illegal trade blockade similar to the US embargo on Cuba after his Andean neighbour said Colombia was engaged in "psychological war".
The criticism was Uribe's strongest yet since Venezuela and Colombia began sparring several months ago in a dispute that has damaged their $7 billion (Dh25.7 billion) a year in bilateral trade and heightened fears of a violent clash along their frontier.
Chavez, a fierce US critic allied with Cuba, has ordered Colombian imports cut as his government protests Uribe's plan to allow US troops more access to bases for joint initiatives against cocaine lords and leftist rebels.
Opec-member Venezuela relies heavily on Colombian food products, but Chavez is seeking alternative imports from Brazil and Argentina.
"In Venezuela, there is an embargo against the Col-ombian economy. It is an illegal, unjust embargo," Uribe said.
"People criticise the embargo against Cuba, well now there is a Venezuelan blockade against Colombia."
Illegal miners
Uribe said other nations were taking advantage of the crisis to replace Colombian market share. Exports to Venezuela fell 56 per cent in October compared with a year earlier.
The latest exchange to test ties between the feuding South American nations came when Colombia said last week that Venezuelan troops had deported more than 400 illegal Colombian and Brazilian miners from makeshift gold camps.
Colombia called it a violation of rights. But Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez said on Wednesday the miners were damaging the Yapacana national park of Amazonas state.
Illegal gold mining is common in Venezuela and Colombia, where miners use water jets and mercury to filter gold, leaving behind deforested areas and polluted waterways and rivers.
"It is senseless that a routine activity in this country like the expulsion of illegal miners, people who are destroying the environment, be used as part of a media and psychological war, intimidation and threat to our nation," Carrizalez said.
The two nations' dispute centres around a decision by Colombia to allow US troops more access to military bases. Uribe says the deal is an extension of US aid to help end his country's long guerrilla war and fight the cocaine business.
