Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez spoke by telephone on Monday with his Colombian counterpart, President Juan Manuel Santos, regarding the recent clashes between insurgent groups and the military in Colombia close to the Venezuelan border.

“We are not willing to allow it – the use of Venezuelan territory for irregular activities – and we have said it a million times: what we want for Colombia is peace,” President Chávez said yesterday, speaking during a cabinet meeting in the Néstor Kirchner room of the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas.

The Venezuelan leader explained that he received a call from President Santos, “informing me that, according to what they told him, guerrilla groups passed over here” after confrontations between the armed forces and irregular groups at a military post.

In response, President Chávez put in motion all relevant security operations, and explained: “Yesterday I called President Santos at night, around 11. We are patrolling by air and land, and until late last night I was talking with General Pedro Pérez Ravelo, commander of La Guajira. I also spoke with a young lieutenant, the commander at El Indio. Just opposite is the Colombian post at La Majayura.”

President Chávez, in his commitment to peace in the region, reiterated recently in a statement his “willingness to continue consolidating the historic fraternal relations between Venezuela and Colombia, a guarantee of peace, stability and wellbeing for our peoples.”

Presidential Press Office / Press – Venezuelan Embassy to the U.S. / May 23, 2012