By Humberto Márquez
CARACAS, Apr 24 2003 (IPS)

The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela disappointed anyone who was expecting conflicts from the two divergent personalities during their official meeting, as they amicably signed agreements to reactivate bilateral trade and develop joint infrastructure projects.

Colombia’s Alvaro Uribe is politically right-wing and economically liberal, while Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez champions his "revolutionary" government and his opposition to economic neo- liberalism, but they were able to find common ground where convenient to both.

Uribe, who is pushing a hardline military strategy against the leftist guerrillas in his country, "clearly told Chávez that he is at the crossroads of either collaborating or not in the fight against subversion, and took home a promise that Venezuela will not provide refuge to the insurgents," international affairs expert Carlos Romero told IPS.

"In a mischievous, symbolic gesture, but one charged with political meaning, Uribe presented Chávez with his ‘poncho’," shortly after arriving at the summit site in the southeast Venezuela city of Puerto Ordaz, he said.

The Colombian president told his Venezuelan counterpart in an aside, but loud enough for the press to hear: "This isn’t the blanket of (guerrilla leader) Marulanda, but my own poncho."

Manuel Marulanda, known as "Tirofijo" (sure-shot), is the commander of the leftist FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), who is usually shown in the media wearing a small yellow blanket draped over a shoulder.

Uribe’s gift, highlighted in the Venezuelan media, "meant to convey to Chávez that Venezuela has to decide whose side it is on," Bogotá’s or the FARC’s, according to Romero’s interpretation.

Chávez, for his part, "made sure Uribe came to take on commitments for economic cooperation and political collaboration, putting off the danger that Colombia could be used by the United States or the Venezuelan opposition as a factor against his government," he said.

Between the two South American neighbours, the "strategic preference of the United States, which in the past was inclined towards Venezuela for its focus on democracy and its own petroleum interests, now leans towards Colombia, sharing its fight against drug trafficking and terrorism," international politics expert Vilma Petrásh said in comments to IPS.

In the weeks leading up to the summit, many accusations were heard from Bogotá about the alleged sympathy of the Venezuelan government towards the leftist Colombian guerrillas, prompting comments from Caracas about supposed ties between the Colombian government and that country’s right-wing paramilitary groups.

They also exchanged a volley of charges of violations of territorial sovereignty.

In a press conference following the summit, Uribe and Chávez were asked about a hypothetical invasion of Venezuela, given that Washington is defending its international policy of "pre-emptive wars" against presumed terrorist threats, and that there are more than 300 U.S. soldiers already in Colombia.

"Colombia is not an invading country, but rather a country invaded by terrorists and criminals," Uribe was quick to reply.

Chávez responded, "We do not fear any sort of invasion. The possibility is the product of feverish minds that would prefer to see an invading general in the Venezuelan presidency instead of me."

Uribe came away empty-handed from his recent attempts to convince Venezuela, Brazil, Panama and Ecuador to officially declare the leftist guerrilla groups in his own country as terrorist organisations.

But in Puerto Ordaz he said, "I don’t care if they are called archangels or terrorists, as long as they are captured if they cross the border."

The Colombian president did mark a success at Wednesday’s summit as standard-bearer for his country’s business community.

He persuaded Chávez to commit to releasing within the next few weeks the 300 million dollars that Venezuelan importers owe Colombian exporters, whose payments were blocked by the implementation in Venezuela of a system strictly limiting currency exchanges.

Bogotá and Caracas will activate mechanisms for compensation to be paid in local currencies, as established under the Latin American Integration Association, to overcome the obstacle of the Venezuelan exchange controls.

Moisés Bittán, president of the Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber of Integration, said the hope is that bilateral trade can be maintained at around the 1.9 billion dollars recorded in 2002, but that the currency controls could mean a 50-percent decline this year.

Venezuela is Colombia’s second leading trade partner, after the United States.

Uribe called for expanding the authorisations for cash transfers from the Venezuelan Central Bank to pay for imports. The current lists cover just 30 percent of the products that Colombia exports to its neighbour.

As a counteroffer, the Colombian president invited public and private enterprise in Venezuela to take part in projects in Colombia in the areas of hydroelectric production, oil transport and refineries, and the construction of pipelines, bridges and roads.

The Puerto Ordaz Declaration, signed by the two presidents, outlines further measures for promoting joint initiatives in infrastructure related to energy, land and water transport, watershed management and border issues.

Colombia’s foreign minister, Carolina Barco, and her Venezuelan counterpart, Roy Chaderton, signed a memorandum of understanding for cooperation on the matter of the Colombians displaced from their homes by the ongoing armed conflict in their country who cross into Venezuela seeking refuge.

The issue of the anti-insurgent fight in Colombia was not included in the texts signed at the close of the summit, but Uribe said he hopes contacts with Venezuela and other neighbouring countries "will lead at some moment to putting more concrete agreements against terrorism in motion."

"The day we have that multilateral force against terrorism, I hope Venezuela will be a Class A member. In this there will be no disagreement because we have the common duty of defending our peoples," stated Uribe.

Uribe and Chávez plan to sit down again for an official meeting in the northwest Colombian city of Medellín on July 22.

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