Factbox: History of tensions between Venezuela and Colombia

SANTA MARIA, Colombia (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Colombia's Juan Manuel Santos meet on Tuesday to try to resolve a diplomatic and trade dispute.

Colombia accuses Caracas of "tolerating" guerrillas, saying the rebels use Venezuelan jungles to launch attacks against Colombia. Chavez says Colombia is plotting with Washington to overthrow his socialist government.

Following are some key facts about the neighbors:

* Venezuela and Colombia share a 1,375-mile (2,200-km) border and a volatile history. After both were freed from Spain by Venezuelan liberator Simon Bolivar in the 19th century, the two countries were the center of a short-lived nation known as Gran Colombia that included Ecuador and Panama.

* The two Andean countries almost went to war in August 1987 in a dispute over a maritime border in the Caribbean. Both countries put troops on alert after the Colombian naval corvette Caldas refused to leave the disputed waters. Venezuela scrambled F-16 fighters to its frontier before the dispute was resolved and the vessel left.

* For years, Colombia's four-decade-old guerrilla conflict has spilled over the border, where kidnappings, contraband and drug trafficking are common. Chavez's ideological closeness to Colombian FARC Marxist rebels has led Washington and Bogota to accuse him of supporting the guerrillas. Chavez denies providing arms or logistical support to the rebels.

* In the early days of their presidencies, former soldier Chavez and former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe displayed a rapport, exchanging hugs and jokes and striking a cross-border gas pipeline deal despite their political differences. But increasingly their ties became strained and tensions worsened just before Santos was inaugurated. Santos is seen as having a more conciliatory approach.

* Chavez often hits Colombia with diplomatic reprisals. He has called Uribe a liar and a "Mafioso" linked to right-wing paramilitary fighters. Uribe's government once threatened to take Chavez to the international court, accusing him of supporting genocide by backing the Colombian rebels.

* When Chavez recalled his diplomats from Colombia in July last year it was the latest in a series of such measures since 2005 when tensions ran high over the arrest in Caracas of a FARC guerrilla leader in a Colombian-led police operation.

* The two countries raised the specter of war in March 2008 after a Colombian bombing raid on a guerrilla camp in Ecuador brought troop movements from Quito and Caracas. Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Bogota.

* Chavez cut bilateral trade last year after Colombia agreed to allow U.S. troops more access to its military bases as part of Washington's multibillion-dollar aid package to fight drug traffickers. Bilateral trade, which was $7 billion in 2008, plunged by about 70 percent. The commercial stagnation has slowed Colombia's economic recovery and increased Venezuela's already high inflation rate.

(Reporting by Bogota newsroom; editing by Anthony Boadle)