By Xinhua
Caracas : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has once again accused the United States of showing no interest in resolving the Colombian civil war as it gives Washington an excuse to boost its military presence in Latin America.
“The one most interested in seeing this war continued is called the United States,” Chavez said in his weekly television show Sunday.
Chavez also described the US government as a “hyper-terrorist” for using bombing and illegal invasion methods.
The Venezuelan leader renewed his call to describe the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as belligerents instead of terrorists, and urged all Latin American governments to pay attention to the importance of peace in Colombia.
He said if FARC is recognised as a belligerent force rather than its current status as rebels or terrorists, and if FARC accepts the change, it would have to abide by the Geneva Protocol and give up actions such as kidnapping.
He also called on his Colombian counterpart Alvaro Uribe to seek an end to the conflict via an international agreement.
Chavez said that he did not want to interfere in Colombia’s internal affairs, but the problem has gone beyond that nation’s borders. Venezuela is also suffering from death, injury, insecurity and kidnapping in areas close to the Colombian border, he said.
He said that a political solution is essential to end what he called a war. “Sixty years of civil war is enough. Let us go for the solutions and for peace,” Chavez said.
FARC is the largest and heavily equipped rebel guerrilla group in Colombia, which generates its funding through kidnapping, extortion and drug trafficking. It has kept some high profile people hostage and recently released two of them as a goodwill gesture to Chavez.
The Venezuelan president was authorised to mediate a prisoner swap between FARC and the Colombian government last year, but Colombian President Uribe barred the leftist leader from the mission accusing him of breaching agreement norms.