Chavez eyes talks with Santos

By Zhang Wen

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will meet with his Colombian counterpart today addressing the diplomatic spat between the two countries.

"We'll be working hard for Tuesday's meeting. ... It's going to be the start of a new relationship for the good of both countries," Chavez said in his TV program "Hello, president."

It is a quick response to newly elected Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos' offer to talks on mending relations.

Chavez broke off diplomatic relations with Colombia on July 22, one week after Santos' predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, accused Venezuela of harboring some 1,500 Colombian rebels, a claim Chavez strongly denied.

Chavez and Uribe were also at diplomatic loggerheads late last year after Colombia signed a military base agreement with the US.

Despite those positive signs, some analysts fear that goodwill cannot solve the deep problems between the two countries.

"I'm sure that Venezuela and Colombia will rebuild their diplomatic relations," Miguel Angel Latouche, an expert on national management and reconciliation from the Central University of Venezuela, told the Xinhua News Agency. "But it does not ensure the maintenance of dialogue, friendship and mutual-comprehension between the two sides."

Wu Guoping, a professor from the Institute of Latin American Studies at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, pointed out that there were deep ideological differences between the two countries.

Venezuela is a typical left-wing country, emphasizing social justice and going against US forces that meddle in regional affairs. Colombia belongs to the right-wing camp, and is also a close ally of the US. But, as Santos said, Colombians and Venezuelans "are united by the same blood despite different ideologies."

"Almost 30 percent of Venezuela's food imports come from Colombia. Venezuela, on the other hand, is an important oil supplier for the US. So both sides are seeking a relatively stable relationship," said Xu Shicheng, a researcher working with Wu.

Agencies contributed to this story