Venezuela's security forces look for smugglers near the Tachira river that connects Venezuela with Colombia, in San Antonio, Venezuela. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday urged his military leaders to prepare 'for war' and to ready citizens to 'defend the homeland' as tensions mount over fractious ties with neighboring Colombia. The comments come at a tense time for the region as Colombia signs a controversial military agreement with the United States to let US forces use seven military bases in Colombia for anti-drug operations. Chavez has repeatedly voiced deep fears of US encroachment in the region.
Chavez, a staunch critic of the United States, said on Sunday the United States was spying on his government with unmanned drones that fly from Colombia as well as the islands off Venezuelan's Caribbean coast.
The Venezuelan president called the incursions by the unmanned planes "acts of war" and ordered his air force to shoot them down if they are seen again.
"Colombia does not have those capabilities he describes," Defense Minister Gabriel Silva told reporters on Monday. "Perhaps the Venezuelan troops confused Father Christmas' sleigh with a spy plane."
Colombia, a close U.S. ally, and OPEC-member Venezuela are locked in a dispute that is hurting bilateral trade ties and raising concerns about possible violence between the Andean neighbors.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez drives Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and her Defense Minister Nilda Garre in a military vehicle, as they visit a shipyard, in Buenos Aires, December 9, 2009.
The dispute intensified over a Colombian agreement to allow U.S. troops more access to its military bases to bolster cooperation against drug traffickers and guerrillas fighting Latin America's longest-running insurgency.
Chavez says the base plan is a step toward U.S. aggression against his oil-producing country. The leftist leader has told troops to prepare for possible war and restricted Colombian imports to protest the accord.
Tensions further escalated over the weekend when Silva said Colombia is preparing to defend against a possible foreign military attack and Chavez warned Colombia that his country was ready to defend itself against any aggression.
The two countries often have sparred when Colombia's long civil conflict spilled across their 1,375-mile (2,200-km) frontier, but the current crisis seems to have heightened risks over a possible flare-up in border violence.
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