Chavez helped in genocide - Colombia

Colombia said today it will bring charges of supporting genocide against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, alleging that he helped…

Colombia said today it will bring charges of supporting genocide against Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, alleging that he helped leftist rebels commit mass murders in Colombia.

"Colombia proposes in the International Penal Court to denounce the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez for sponsoring and financing genocide," Mr Uribe told reporters.

Ecuador and Venezuela broke diplomatic ties with Colombia after its forces killed a rebel inside Ecuador in a raid that sparked troop deployments and warnings of war.

Colombian trade toward Venezuela has been halted at several points along the Andean nations' border, witnesses and a transportation association said today.

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Latin American leaders will meet today in an effort to defuse tensions.

The Organisation of the American States, the region's most powerful diplomatic body, will hold a session in Washington today to press for a negotiated end to a dispute that erupted after a weekend Colombia raid to kill a rebel inside Ecuador.

Ecuador President Rafael Correa will also start a five-nation tour of the region - including to leftist ally Venezuela - to lobby for support against what he calls a premeditated violation of sovereignty.

"This is not a bilateral problem, it's a regional problem," Mr Correa said. "Should this set a precedent, Latin America will become another Middle East."