Yes, it seems if it isn't one thing, then it's another.

Chavez Orders Bogota Embassy Shut After Ecuador Raid

By Matthew Walter

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez ordered his country's embassy in neighboring Colombia to close and told his military to move tank battalions to the border after a Colombian air strike into Ecuador, an ally of Venezuela.

``This could be the beginning of a war,'' Chavez said in comments broadcast today by state television. ``We are on alert, and we'll support Ecuador in any circumstance.''

Colombia launched an air strike yesterday on an Ecuador camp of Colombia's biggest guerrilla group to kill one of its leaders, Raul Reyes. Diplomatic relations between Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe have unraveled since Uribe withdrew his support for Chavez's negotiations with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia to secure the release of hostages.

Chavez, who ordered 10 tank battalions to the Colombian border, said he spoke to Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and is prepared to provide support to the South American country.

``We're monitoring the situation,'' White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said in Crawford, Texas, where President George W. Bush was spending the weekend. ``This is an odd reaction by Venezuela to Colombia's efforts against the FARC, a terrorist organization that continues to hold Colombians, Americans and others hostage.''

Venezuelan `Rhetoric'

Venezuela's dependence on food imports from Colombia at a time when the country is experiencing widespread shortages of staples like milk and eggs, and the Colombian military's superior training, make it unlikely that war will break out between the two countries, said Liliana Fasciani, a legal philosophy professor at the Andres Bello Catholic University in Caracas.

``This is absurd nationalist rhetoric,'' Fasciani said. ``This is more of Chavez making a racket than any kind of real threat.''

The Venezuelan president has stepped up verbal attacks on Uribe in recent months, criticizing the Colombian leader's ties with the U.S., with the U.S., which Chavez calls the ``empire.'' The Venezuelan president regularly accuses Colombia and the U.S. of trying to destabilize his socialist government.

The Venezuelan leader today called Uribe a Mafioso, a liar, and a ``lackey'' of the U.S., and said the Colombian military's attack on Reyes was ``cowardly.''

Hostages Freed

Chavez has secured the release of six hostages this year from Colombia's FARC guerillas. Correa said yesterday that Uribe, who said the attack was carried out during the pursuit of fleeing guerrillas, may have lied.

``We were stunned to find that this was about a temporary camp of the Colombian guerillas two kilometers from the Colombian border inside our territory and that they were massacred while they slept,'' Correa said last night in Quito. Ecuador has recalled its ambassador from Bogota and sent an official note of protest, he said.

The Colombian government said it will respond to Correa's protest, and that the military had acted under the principle of ``legitimate defense'' in yesterday's attack, according to a statement on its Web site.

``Terrorists, among them Raul Reyes, have had a habit of killing in Colombia, and invading territory in neighboring countries to take refuge,'' the statement said.

To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Walter in Caracas at mwalter4@bloomberg.net .