09 March 2008 - 22H24
Venezuela restores ties with Colombia
Venezuela announced Sunday it was normalizing diplomatic ties with neighbouring Colombia immediately, a week after it severed relations over Bogota's cross-border raid into Ecuador.
CARACAS, March 9 (Reuters) - Venezuela will immediately
restore normal diplomatic relations with Colombia, the
government said on Sunday, after this week's resolution of a
regional dispute that had raised the specter of war.
A Colombian raid on a Marxist guerrilla camp in Ecuador
last week had sparked the region's worst diplomatic crisis in
years, with Venezuela and Ecuador sending troops to borders
with their U.S.-backed neighbor.
Venezuela also cut ties with Colombia, but following a
handshake at a regional summit on Friday, promised to withdraw
its troops and quickly normalize relations.
The foreign ministry said on Sunday that Venezuela would
send its diplomats back to Bogota immediately and was ready to
receive Colombian diplomats "as soon as possible."
The Venezuelan government "decided to reestablish the
normal functioning of its diplomatic relations with the
government of the Republic of Colombia," the ministry said in a
statement.
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