Venezuela cancels Andean summit after Colombia rift

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela canceled a summit of leaders from the Andean region on Monday amid a war of words between Caracas and Bogota over Colombian plans to intensify its war against drugs and Marxist guerrillas.

Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel said the meeting of presidents from Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia planned for December 8-9 would not go ahead due to timetable clashes.

"The summit is not going ahead ... because the presidents have very complicated agendas," Rangel told journalists outside the presidential residence in Caracas.

But the cancellation came amid an increasingly bitter war of words between the Venezuelan and Colombian governments, after Caracas played host to a high-level meeting with Colombian guerrilla representatives last week.

Colombia recalled its ambassador to Venezuela over the weekend for temporary consultations in Bogota, a move copied by Venezuela on Monday.

Rangel said last week's meeting between Venezuelan government officials and members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) was part of Venezuela's ongoing attempts to work for peace in its western neighbor.

However, Colombian congressmen said Chavez's alleged links to the guerrillas made him a threat to stability in the region, an accusation that prompted Chavez to lash out at what he called the Colombian "oligarchy."

"The Colombian oligarchy seems not to want peace, the Colombian oligarchy is to blame for a good part of the tragedy being lived by our brothers in Colombia," Chavez said on his weekly radio show on Sunday.

Chavez, a left-leaning failed coup leader, said the oligarchs were direct descendants of the group who conspired to assassinate Venezuela's 19th century independence hero Simon Bolivar, who is also Chavez's political model.

Rangel said Venezuela held valid concerns about Colombia's plan to intensify its war against drugs and guerrillas, with $1.3 billion of U.S. military aid, because of the spillover it could have on neighboring countries.

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