Venezuela positions troops along Colombian border

CARACAS, July 31 AFP - Venezuelan troops were in position along the Venezuela-Colombia border Saturday after President Hugo Chavez ordered their deployment and accused his outgoing Colombian counterpart of being "capable of anything."

Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 22, one week after outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe accused Venezuela of harboring 1,500 leftist Colombian rebels in its territory, a charge Chavez has strongly denied.

"We've deployed military units, air force, infantry, but quietly because we don't want to upset anybody, the population," Chavez told state-run VTV television in a telephone interview.

The leftist leader did not say how many troops and exactly what military ordnance was involved in the move. "Uribe is capable of anything in these last days" before he leaves office on August 7, said Chavez.

"This has become a threat of war and we don't want war," added Chavez, who had also threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States if it backed an attack by Colombia, its chief ally in the region.

Last Sunday the president cancelled a trip to Cuba, claiming the risk of a Colombian attack had never been greater.

The Colombian Air Force on Friday said it would set up an air base in Yopal, in eastern Casanares department, to keep an eye over the border area with Venezuela and take on Colombian rebel forces in the region. The air base will also be tasked with protecting crude oil installations in the region and also with "fighting the different drug trafficking groups in that part of the Colombian territory," the air force statement said.

Uribe and Chavez have often been at loggerheads in the past. In November, Chavez broke off diplomatic relations over a US-Colombian military base agreement he said was a threat to regional stability. Chavez also did some sabre-rattling at the time.

In their latest tussle, Colombia took its accusations to the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS) on July 22, while Venezuela earlier this week went before a foreign ministers' meeting of regional body Unasur, the Union of South American Nations, which called for a presidential summit to try to resolve the crisis.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro on Tuesday said there was a possibility things could be patched up between Caracas and Bogota when Colombian president-elect Juan Manuel Santos takes over from Uribe next week.

"If the new Colombian government fully rectifies (its position) and adopts a posture of absolute respect for Venezuela's government and our country, we are sure we can build a new path," Maduro said. But just a day earlier another top Venezuelan official, Electricity Minister Ali Rodriguez had stoked the rising tensions with Colombia, warning that his government does "not fear war if it is imposed on us." Rodriquez said Bogota's accusations that Venezuela is harboring Colombian guerrilla leaders were a "foul, vulgar and offensive pretext to attack Venezuela." Chavez also told VTV that military overflights of the Venezuelan territory where Colombia claims rebels have taken up camp have only turned up a few rocks and an an old house.

"I told our comrades to lift that rock, maybe there's a tunnel underneath," he said tongue-in-cheek.

Uribe on Friday defended his decision last week to have the OAS take up accusations that Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and National Liberation Army guerrillas were using bases in Venezuela to stage their anti-government attacks on Bogota.

"You have to be daring to denounce terrorists on the international level.