Chavez Allies May Meet on Threat From Colombia, Morales Says

By Helen Murphy and Jonathan J. Levin

Nov. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Latin American countries aligned with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez may hold an emergency meeting after Chavez told his military and civil militias to prepare for an invasion by Colombia.

“It’s an obligation to defend the sovereignty of the Latin American people,” Bolivian President Evo Morales said today in Cochabamba, Bolivia, urging that the Alba bloc of nine Latin American countries meet to discuss the situation.

Chavez said yesterday that Colombia may be plotting to invade Venezuela and ordered his armed forces to prepare for an attack. The Venezuelan president, who didn’t provide any evidence of a Colombian plot, has been feuding with President Alvaro Uribe over his plan to allow the U.S. to use seven military bases for anti-drug operations.

Morales said the meeting would aim to advance military and security cooperation among Alba’s member countries, including Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua. The Bolivian president also repeated his proposal for a continent-wide referendum on the increased U.S. military presence in Colombia.

Relations between Venezuela and neighboring Colombia have deteriorated this year after Uribe accused Chavez of financing and supplying Colombian rebels. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said last week that he would try to bring Chavez and Uribe together later this month to defuse tensions.

‘Avoid a War’

“Generals of the armed forces, the best way to avoid a war is to prepare for one,” Chavez said yesterday on state television as he accused Colombia of handing over its sovereignty to the U.S. “Don’t make the mistake of attacking,” he warned Colombia, “Venezuela is willing to do anything.”

Colombia’s government has denied any intention of attacking Venezuela and says the U.S. accord is only to help combat drug trafficking and terrorism. The president’s office said it will file a complaint about Chavez’s comments with the Organization of American States and the United Nations Security Council.

Colombia called for a “frank” dialogue with Venezuela.

“Colombia hasn’t and won’t make a single gesture of war to the international community, and even less so to a brother country,” Uribe’s office said in a statement on the Foreign Ministry’s Web site. “The only thing we are interested in is overcoming the narco-terrorism” that has affected Colombians for many years.

Tensions

Venezuela remains open to discussing tensions with Colombia at the defense council of the Union of South American Nations, or in any other multilateral setting, the country’s foreign ministry said via an e-mailed statement.

The U.S. military accord is part of an effort to “strengthen and increase ties with countries in the region,” Robin Holzhauer, spokeswoman for the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, said by telephone yesterday. Plan Colombia, a U.S. assistance plan, has provided $6 billion in mostly military aid to Colombia since 2000.

Chavez’s comments shouldn’t be interpreted as a sign that war is imminent and may be designed to distract Venezuelans from domestic problems before elections scheduled for next year, said Adam Isacson, director at the Center for International Policy in Washington.

“It’s hard to imagine a real war scenario, but a border skirmish is conceivable,” Isacson said. “So much of this is defensive and domestic rhetoric.”

Electricity Shortage

Venezuela will impose conservation measures for water and electricity because the El Nino weather pattern has reduced rainfall, affecting hydroelectric stations and drinking-water reservoirs, Chavez said last month. Power disruptions have become more common in recent years as growing energy use outstripped expansion in the nation’s generation and transmission network. Inflation is running at 29 percent, the highest among 78 major economies tracked by Bloomberg.

Elections to choose 167 lawmakers in the National Assembly will be held Sept. 26. The government has a near-absolute majority in the legislative body.

“The stakes are high because Chavez stands a good chance of losing his rubber stamp in the legislature,” Isacson said.

Chavez ordered an increase of troops along the 2,000- kilometer border between Venezuela and Colombia last week and said he may declare a state of emergency after two officials from the National Guard were shot and killed by unidentified Colombians.

Tanks, Jets

Venezuela has purchased billions of dollars of tanks, fighter jets and helicopters from Russia since 2003. Chavez says the purchases are necessary to modernize the armed forces and to protect the country’s natural resources from a possible invasion from the U.S.

Venezuela, a founding member of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, is the largest oil producer in Latin America.

Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Tarek El-Aissami said last month that officers from Colombia’s domestic intelligence agency are operating clandestinely in his country to destabilize the government.

Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez said that the military deal with the U.S. will help “end drug-trafficking and terrorism in Colombia” during the signing ceremony in Bogota on Oct. 30.

Colombia is the source of 80 percent of the cocaine sold in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Chavez said in July that he’d stop importing goods from Colombia due to the U.S. military pact. The two countries are each other’s second-largest trading partners after the U.S.

Colombian exports to Venezuela plunged 50 percent in Seotember from a year earlier, according to data Colombia’s statistics institute.