Caracas, Venezuela, Mar 3, 2008 / 10:49 am
In declarations to Union Radio, the first vice president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Roberto Luckert of Coro, has called for reconciliation and said the government should avoid any kind of military confrontation with Colombia or other neighboring countries.
On March 1, Colombian forces killed Raul Reyes, the number two in command of the Marxist rebel group FARC, during a confrontation that took place on Ecuadoran soil. The episode has caused a crisis between Colombia and Ecuador.
In what appears to be saber rattling, the Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has also ordered 10 battalions of tanks to the border with Colombia.
During his TV program “Alo Presidente,” President Hugo Chavez said the Colombian incursion “violated Ecuador’s sovereignty” and that if it had occurred on Venezuelan soil it would have been “a reason for war.”