UPDATE 1-Colombia polarized by Uribe's battle with courts

(Adds Venezuela context in paragraph 12)

By Hugh Bronstein

BOGOTA, June 30 (Reuters) - Colombian President Alvaro Uribe deepened his feud with the courts on Monday by going ahead with plans for a referendum aimed at rerunning the 2006 election in which he won a second term.

The popular leader reacted angrily to last week's Supreme Court ruling that said a former lawmaker was bribed by high government officials to support the constitutional amendment that allowed Uribe to seek re-election.

The judges recommended a legal review of the 2006 vote but rather than wait for that, the U.S-backed president wants to take his case directly to voters.

Uribe's move throws politics into turmoil as his long-simmering feud with Colombia's courts over his hard-line policies breaks into an open clash.

After the bribery ruling was handed down Uribe said the Supreme Court was politically biased and may even be influenced by Colombia's multibillion-dollar cocaine trade.

His combative strategy opens the possibility of a special election that could give him a new mandate and allow more public debate over whether he should be allowed to try to stay in power beyond 2010 when his current term ends.

"The referendum is on the way," presidential advisor Jose Obdulio Gaviria said as the opposition howled that Uribe is thumbing his nose at the judicial system and throwing off the constitutional checks and balances of the country.