Colombia-Venezuela ties strained by mutual accusations

Colombia's relations with Venezuela sank to a new low Thursday after President Alvaro Uribe asked his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo Chavez to stop meddling and "attacking" Colombia while Chavez accused Uribe of being "obsessed with war."

"The Colombian government asks President Hugo Chavez to stop attacking our country," Colombian Foreign Minister Fernando Araujo said Wednesday, reading from a formal protest note.

Chavez "does not miss a chance to mistreat Colombia and its government," and he "confuses cooperation with interference," Araujo said.

"He ignores the guerrillas' acts of terrorism, their involvement in drug trafficking, among others," he said.

In response, Venezuela's Foreign Ministry Thursday accused Uribe of not being committed to peace in his country.

"The Colombian government is not committed to peace, it is obsessed with war and defeating insurgent forces by military means," Caracas' statement said.

Rebels of Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) last Thursday handed over two woman hostages, Clara Rojas and Consuelo Gonzalez, to an international mission led by Venezuela.

Chavez acted as a mediator in the release of Rojas and Gonzalez, who spent more than six years in captivity in the Colombian jungle.

"La W" radio in Bogota reported FARC would soon announce, in Venezuela, the handover of more hostages.

The "La W" report said one of three U.S. contractors kidnapped in 2003 and four other seriously ill captives were among the hostages FARC plans to release.

However, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said he hadno information on this.