Concern mounted among business leaders in T�chira state, which borders on Colombia, after Venezuela President Hugo Ch�vez ordered steps to be taken in preparation for an outright "rupture of relations" with the neighboring country. Speaking on Tuesday evening–hours before the Organisation of American States (OAS) assembly, where both countries were to raise their differences the following day–Chavez spoke of an "eventual" break of relations. "This is going to happen, we will be preparing for it because this Colombian bourgeoisie hates us," he declared during a meeting at Miraflores where he bid farewell to the departing Cuban ambassador.
Chavez uncompromising
As to Colombian President Alvaro Uribe's agreement to allow the United States military to use military bases in his country–a move Ch�vez sees as posing a direct threat to the region in general and Venezuela in particular–the Venezuelan leader was as uncompromising as ever. "Never more will we permit it that our soldiers bend the knee before the anti-patriot and the yanqui empire," he declared. "They can put 7,000 yankee bases around Venezuela and they're not going to be able to stop the Bolivarian Revolution."
In the wake of this, the T�chira branch of Venezuela's biggest business organisation, the Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (Fedec�maras), warned that shunning Colombia would severely affect cross-border trade. Fedec�maras T�chira President Jos� Rozo said that 70 per cent of trade activity in the state depended on imports from Colombia, and he wondered out loud about the wider implications. The dispute was damaging the economy, which was "the motor that drives social development in the country," he continued, and Ch�vez's decision could spell problems in the next few months. He pointed the president towards Article 87 of the constitution, which obliges the state to promote development, employment and new sources of jobs.
Cross-border trade
The Venezuelan-Colombian Chamber of Commerce reiterated an earlier estimate that breaking with Colombia could affect half a million jobs. While cross-border trade was continuing, it added, this had fallen by 17 per cent. Reports from the region indicated that the decline in economic activity was accelerating as border guards and customs officials responded to the presidential order by tightening up controls at key crossing points such as the Sim�n Bol�var bridge. The number of people passing though the border appears to have fallen steadily as Ch�vez upped the stakes. (Latin American Herald Tribune)