<p>"I announce with a tear in the heart: Venezuela breaks off from this moment all relations with the government of Colombia," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told reporters in his presidential palace in Caracas.<br /><br />The announcement marked a fresh spike in tensions between the South American neighbours, which went to the brink of war in 2008 over a Colombian military raid into Ecuador to destroy a cross-border rebel camp.<br /><br />Colombia, Washington's staunchest military ally in the region, and Venezuela, a Cuban ally that has accumulated an arsenal of modern Russian warplanes and weapons, have frequently quarrelled over the past few years.<br />The putative help Chavez is accused of giving Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas has fuelled much of the ill-will.<br /><br />Diplomatic relations have been fragile after past downgrades.<br />Colombia and Venezuela froze diplomatic ties last year after Bogota and Washington inked a military cooperation agreement Chavez considered a threat to regional security.<br />A mutual loathing between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe -- who steps down August 7 to be succeeded by his former defence minister Juan Manuel Santos -- has also aggravated the situation.<br /><br />Chavez's decision to break ties came in response to Uribe's charge that rebels from the FARC and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgency group were using Venezuela as a rear base with impunity.<br />Uribe, in a statement last week, spoke of "the presence in Venezuela of terrorists who are seeking to attack our country."<br /><br />Four FARC leaders and one from the ELN were in Venezuela, operating from there with impunity, he said, threatening to take the matter to international forums.<br />Today, the Colombian representative to the Organisation of American States, Luis Hoyos, told the Washington-based body that Bogota had evidence of "the consolidated, active and growing presence of these terrorist bands in the brother country of Venezuela."<br />Showing graphic photos of victims of attacks he said were carried out by Venezuelan-based guerrillas, he said Caracas must "accept its obligation" to bar the rebels from its territory.</p>
<p>"I announce with a tear in the heart: Venezuela breaks off from this moment all relations with the government of Colombia," Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told reporters in his presidential palace in Caracas.<br /><br />The announcement marked a fresh spike in tensions between the South American neighbours, which went to the brink of war in 2008 over a Colombian military raid into Ecuador to destroy a cross-border rebel camp.<br /><br />Colombia, Washington's staunchest military ally in the region, and Venezuela, a Cuban ally that has accumulated an arsenal of modern Russian warplanes and weapons, have frequently quarrelled over the past few years.<br />The putative help Chavez is accused of giving Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas has fuelled much of the ill-will.<br /><br />Diplomatic relations have been fragile after past downgrades.<br />Colombia and Venezuela froze diplomatic ties last year after Bogota and Washington inked a military cooperation agreement Chavez considered a threat to regional security.<br />A mutual loathing between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe -- who steps down August 7 to be succeeded by his former defence minister Juan Manuel Santos -- has also aggravated the situation.<br /><br />Chavez's decision to break ties came in response to Uribe's charge that rebels from the FARC and the smaller National Liberation Army (ELN) insurgency group were using Venezuela as a rear base with impunity.<br />Uribe, in a statement last week, spoke of "the presence in Venezuela of terrorists who are seeking to attack our country."<br /><br />Four FARC leaders and one from the ELN were in Venezuela, operating from there with impunity, he said, threatening to take the matter to international forums.<br />Today, the Colombian representative to the Organisation of American States, Luis Hoyos, told the Washington-based body that Bogota had evidence of "the consolidated, active and growing presence of these terrorist bands in the brother country of Venezuela."<br />Showing graphic photos of victims of attacks he said were carried out by Venezuelan-based guerrillas, he said Caracas must "accept its obligation" to bar the rebels from its territory.</p>