UNITED NATIONS, November 26 (RIA Novosti) - Venezuela has asked the UN Security Council to put the current internal conflict in the neighboring Colombia on its agenda, the country's U.N. Ambassador Jorge Valero said.
Valero told a news conference on Wednesday that he had passed a letter and a dossier of documents, prepared by the Venezuelan government, to the current Security Council President Thomas Mayr-Harting asking the council to examine "Colombia's serious armed conflict, which constitutes a serious threat to international peace and security."
The diplomat focused on the fact that the Colombian conflict had claimed over 100,000 lives and displaced millions of people while Venezuela "has been the country worst hit by the deepening of this human crisis."
"It [Venezuela] has received, throughout the armed conflict, about four million displaced persons and refugees from Colombia and has suffered 'systematic' violence on its border, through drug trafficking, paramilitary activities, kidnappings and hired killers."
However, he emphasized that the presence of the U.S. military bases in Colombia has only worsened the situation and would have a negative impact on the whole Latin America.
Although Washington and Bogota have insisted that the military bases agreement, which was finally signed in October, concerns "practical aid" in measures against drug trafficking and domestic insurgents in Colombia, Venezuela continues to see the deal as a threat to its national security
Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez have criticized Colombia for becoming "Washington's lackey" and even called on his country to prepare for a possible war that "could last for 100 years and spread over the entire American continent."
The Venezuelan initiative will have to be agreed by at least nine of the 15 UN Security Council member countries to be included in the agenda, which is highly unlikely because the row between Venezuela and Colombia is widely considered a bilateral dispute rather that a conflict with serious international implications.
