Rice urges Colombia and Venezuela to use diplomacy

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Colombia and Venezuela on Thursday to settle a dispute over Colombian FARC rebels by diplomatic means after Caracas sent troops to their border.

"The United States stands strongly for the diplomatic resolution of these recent set of circumstances ... I do hope there will be a diplomatic outcome to this," Rice told a news conference following a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

Venezuela deployed tanks and air and sea forces towards the Colombian border on Wednesday in what it called a defensive move after a weekend raid by Colombian forces killed a FARC leader inside another South American neighbor, Ecuador.

"It shows that everyone needs to be vigilant about the use of border areas by terrorist organizations like the FARC," Rice added.

She described Colombia as a strong ally and insisted no one should do anything to support the FARC -- a snipe at Venezuela, which Washington accuses of not doing enough to counter it.

The United States has antagonistic relations with Venezuela and its fiery President Hugo Chavez, who has previously called U.S. President George W. Bush the "devil". Much of the Venezuelan leader's foreign policy is based on fighting what he calls U.S. "imperialism".

(Reporting by Mark John; Writing by Paul Taylor; Editing by Ingrid Melander)