U.S. says Chavez break with Colombia is "petulant"

Colombia's Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez (R) gestures during a news conference at the Andean Community headquarters in Lima July 22, 2010.

CARACAS (Reuters) - The United States on Friday criticized Venezuela's breaking of ties with U.S. ally Colombia as "petulant" and urged President Hugo Chavez to address charges by Bogota of Colombian rebels sheltering in Venezuela.

The State Department made the comments after Venezuela's army warned Andean neighbor Colombia that it was ready to repel any attacks a day after Chavez severed relations in protest at Colombian allegations of the guerrilla presence in his nation.

State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said it was unfortunate that Venezuela, still a leading U.S. oil supplier despite Chavez's anti-U.S. stance, would not allow an international commission to verify the Colombian charges, as requested by Bogota at the Organization of American States.

"It was a petulant response by Venezuela to cut off relations with Colombia," Crowley said in Washington.

He told reporters the U.S. government hoped for a more "constructive" reply from Caracas.

Leftist Chavez's breaking of ties with Bogota has ratcheted up tensions between OPEC member Venezuela and U.S.-backed Colombia in a volatile Andean region plagued by marauding guerrilla armies and drug-trafficking gangs.

As Latin American governments sought to defuse the rift, the top U.S. diplomat for the region urged Venezuela to take Colombia's allegations seriously and said he hoped the two sides could begin a constructive dialogue.

"I don't think that it is in anybody's interest at this particular point to escalate the rhetoric," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Arturo Valenzuela told reporters. "We want to encourage (a) kind of lowering ... of the decibels."

Venezuelan leaders heaped invective on outgoing Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, calling him a "warmonger". But they said the border with Colombia remained calm on Friday.

Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez said that his country wanted better cooperation from Venezuela to dismantle illegal armed groups battling Colombia's government.

"What is clear is that there needs to be a specific instrument or mechanism so that this subject is resolved and there is effective cooperation in the fight against terrorism," he told reporters in Bogota.

Despite tensions, the main crossing between San Antonio del Tachira in Venezuela and Cucuta in Colombia was open and vehicles and people were crossing with no sign of any immediate military build-up or major troop movements, witnesses said.

Most analysts believe a military clash is unlikely, but Colombia and Venezuela are among the most militarized nations in South America and have sparred and squabbled in the past over border security and guerrillas.

Earlier on Friday, Venezuelan Defense Minister General Carlos Mata appeared on television, in military fatigues and flanked by top commanders, to declare loyalty to Chavez and to sternly warn Uribe's government against attempting an attack.

Uribe, who will be succeeded by Juan Manuel Santos on August 7, has ramped up charges that Caracas gives free rein to rebels in Venezuelan territory. Chavez routinely portrays Colombia as a dangerous pawn of the "imperialist" United States.

ALERT ON BORDER

Venezuela has dismissed as lies the charges by Colombia, which presented photos, videos and maps to the OAS to back its allegations about the presence of Colombian rebel leaders and fighters at what it called "summer camps" inside Venezuela.

Defense minister Mata said in his broadcast the Venezuelan military, which has some 20,000 troops along the porous 1,375-mile border, was "operationally prepared."

"The Venezuelan people and the Colombian government should know that the (Venezuelan) Bolivarian National Armed Forces, as guarantor of the nation's security, will respond firmly if any foreign forces seek to violate our sacred soil," Mata said.

Declaring the diplomatic break with Bogota on Thursday, Chavez ordered "maximum alert" on the frontier.

Trade, which once stood at $7 billion annually, has plummeted since Chavez suspended commercial ties last year to protest a deal allowing U.S. forces to use Colombian bases.

Analysts say both countries could lose if the rift deepens. Venezuelan private industry association Conindustria urged the country's leaders to resume dialogue with Bogota, saying the falloff in trade hurt Venezuela's economy too.

"Unfortunately, the ones who pay the consequences of these conflicts are consumers, because they suffer the problems of scarcity and rising prices through the break in the commercial flow between the two countries," Conindustria said.

Chavez has expressed the hope that ties, which were turbulent with Uribe, can return to normal under Santos, who has been careful to avoid public comment on the rift so far.

Santos, who as defense minister played a major role in Uribe's military sweeps against Marxist guerrilla groups, has said he favors dialogue with Caracas.

Colombia has said it could take allegations of cross-border attacks by rebels it says are based in Venezuela to the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Bogota alleges Venezuela is failing in its international obligations by not acting against the drug-trafficking guerrillas.

(Additional reporting by Jack Kimball in Bogota, Eyanir Chinea in Caracas and Arshad Mohammed in Washington; Writing by Pascal Fletcher; editing by Philip Barbara)