Venezuela ends fuel agreement with Colombia

Venezuela will not renew an agreement to provide fuel to Colombia, Venezuela's Energy and Petroleum Minister, Rafael Ramirez, announced on Wednesday.

The one-year agreement, under which Caracas provided fuel to Bogota on preferential terms, expired on Tuesday, and "there is no reason to renew it," Ramirez told press after a meeting with the Venezuela United Socialist Party in Tachira, a western Venezuela state bordering Colombia.

He said Venezuelan authorities were implementing rigorous security measures to prevent fuel contraband to Colombia, including deploying 120 special prosecution investigators and military officials.

The decision not to renew the agreement is part of a freeze on diplomatic and trade ties with Colombia ordered by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on July 28. Despite the freeze, Venezuela's ambassador to Bogota, Gustavo Marquez, who was withdrawn by Chavezas part of the freeze, returned to his position on Aug. 9.

Chavez ordered the freeze after Colombia's decision to allow U.S. military bases in Colombia and the seizure of Venezuelan weapons at a Colombian guerrilla base.