SAN CRISTOBAL, Venezuela, (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez is stirring trouble with Colombia to disguise domestic failures and Venezuela would be “mad” to enter a conflict with its neighbor, a prominent opposition leader said. Cesar Perez Vivas is the governor of Tachira, one of just five Venezuelan states in opposition hands. It has a chaotic border frequented by paramilitary and guerrilla fighters from Colombia and has been at the heart of recent tensions between Venezuela and Colombia.
Perez urged Latin American diplomatic heavyweights like Brazil, Chile and Mexico to step in and mediate between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.
“Provoking a war … would be really mad,” Perez told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday. “Friendly nations must do their best to bring the two governments together.”
The Andean neighbors are at odds over a Colombian decision to allow U.S. troops more access to its military bases.
Chavez, a left-wing firebrand who has cast himself as the region’s successor to Cuba’s Fidel Castro, says that could be a precursor to an invasion of Venezuela. But Uribe, a close U.S. ally, says the move is purely to fight drugs and rebels.
Perez, a 52-year-old lawyer elected governor of the western border state of Tachira last year, said Chavez would serve his people better attending to deteriorating services and rising crime rather than stoking disputes.
