BOGOTA—Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Tuesday accused Venezuela's Hugo Chavez of backing genocide and said he would denounce him in international court as a diplomatic and military crisis gripped the oil-rich Andean region.
"Colombia proposes to denounce Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela, in the International Criminal Court for sponsoring and financing genocide," Uribe said, after Venezuela and Ecuador cut diplomatic ties and ordered troops to the border.
The crisis erupted after a raid by Colombia troops into Ecuador on Saturday that killed a top commander of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, FARC, which is seen as a terrorist group by Uribe and his backer, the United States.
Uribe, who has accused Chavez and his ally Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa of supporting the FARC, told reporters: "We are not warmongers, but we are not weak. We cannot allow terrorists who seek refuge in other countries to spill the blood of our countrymen."
The rebel group said on Tuesday the killing of Raul Reyes, a major blow to the rebels, was a serious setback to efforts by France, Venezuela and Ecuador to free hostages held by FARC for years in jungle camps.
France said Reyes had been its main negotiating partner as it tried to free Ingrid Betancourt, a former Colombian presidential candidate who also holds French nationality.
Venezuela began restricting Colombian commercial traffic on points along its frontier, witnesses and businesses in Venezuela said, threatening to disrupt the $6 billion-a-year bilateral trade between the two countries,
The crisis reflected a sharp political divide in South America, where Uribe, who has strong U.S. financial and military backing, is opposed by leftists led by Chavez who fiercely reject what they brand U.S. "imperialism".
Latin American countries scrambled to defuse the crisis, which threatened regional stability. Chile's foreign minister said countries would take a proposal Tuesday to the Organization of American States, or OAS, the region's top diplomatic body, to try to cool the escalating situation.
Ecuador's Correa arrived in Peru to start a five-nation tour of the region—including to Venezuela—to lobby for support after the Colombian raid, which he called a premeditated violation of sovereignty.
"We are going to try to resolve this matter through diplomatic and peaceful means," he said shortly after arriving in Lima. "Uribe doesn't want peace, he wants war."
Military Brinkmanship
Despite the three leaders' brinkmanship and the risk of military missteps, political analysts said a conflict was unlikely on borders that stretch from parched desert through Andean mountains and jungles to the Pacific Ocean.
Chavez, who says socialist revolution will counter U.S. influence, may fire up his supporters by challenging Uribe but he can ill afford to lose food imports from Colombia as he combats shortages in his OPEC nation, the analysts said.
In Washington, U.S. State Department spokesman Tom Casey played down the chances of it erupting into a wider conflict.
"This is a serious incident between two important countries in the region but it is not one that we think is going to cause any long-term problems," Casey said, stressing the U.S. desire that Colombia and Ecuador address the matter directly.
Latin American governments generally lined up to condemn Uribe for sending troops and warplanes over the border.
Colombia has pressed its campaign for international support by playing up the threat from the FARC, Latin America's oldest left-wing insurgency, which U.S. and European officials label a cocaine-trafficking terrorist organization.
In Geneva, Vice President Francisco Santos told a U.N. conference that materials found on the slain rebel's computers showed the group planned to make a "dirty bomb."
Colombia also said the dead rebel's computers revealed Chavez had offered $300 million in support to the FARC and that a top Correa representative had contacts with the rebels.
Venezuelan officials dismissed the accusations as a crude smear on Chavez and urged the international community to focus on Colombia's "aggression."
Chavez and Correa expelled Colombia's diplomats and said they were ordering thousands of troops to their borders with Colombia.
Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, an ex-guerrilla and ally of Venezuela and Ecuador, said Uribe was a threat to Latin America and Brazil, the region's diplomatic heavyweight, Brazil, demanded Uribe apologize to Correa.
Colombia's four-decade guerrilla conflict has eased under Uribe, who is popular at home for his campaign against the FARC.
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