CHAVEZ SENDS TANKS TO COLUMBIAN BORDER

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Sunday, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered Venezuela's embassy in Colombia closed and told the military to send 10 battalions to the border, as the Colombian troops killed a top rebel leader.

Speaking on his weekly television show, President Chavez also said Venezuela's embassy in Colombia would close.

Chavez said Colombian President Alvaro Uribe was a "criminal". He said the killing of Raul Reyes, a top commander of the left-wing Farc rebels, just inside Ecuador on Saturday was a "cowardly murder".

Chavez also condemned the slaying of 16 other members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, saying they were killed while they slept in a camp across the border in Ecuadorean territory.

OTTAWA CITIZEN/REUTERS:

"Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the frontier with Colombia immediately, tank battalions," Chavez said on his weekly TV show.

"The air force should mobilize. We do not want war. But we are not going to let them ... come and divide and weaken us."

... Chavez, who had warned a similar operation in Venezuela would be "cause for war," said Sunday he would send Russian-made fighter jets into U.S. ally Colombia if its troops struck inside his OPEC country.

Colombia denied it failed to respect Ecuador's sovereignty and said Saturday's operation was a response to fire from across the border.

"Colombia has not violated any sovereignty, only acted in accordance with the principal of legitimate defense," the government said in a statement.

"The terrorists, among them Raul Reyes, were used to killing in Colombia and invading the neighboring countries to hide. Many times Colombia has suffered these situations, which we are obliged to avoid to defend our citizens," it said.

...Ecuador has withdrawn its ambassador to Colombia in protest and also questioned if Uribe lied when he initially explained to his southern neighbor that the strike was in response to fire from rebels across the border against Colombian troops.

"He (Uribe) is a criminal. Not only is he a liar, a Mafia boss, a paramilitary who leads a narco-government, and leads a government that is a lackey of the United States ... he leads a band of criminals from his palace," Chavez said.

THIS COULD LEAD TO A REGIONAL WAR. STAY TUNED...

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