CARACAS, April 19 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez told a summit of fellow left-wing leaders on Monday that the front-running presidential candidate in neighboring Colombia was a menace to stability in Latin America.
"He is a threat to all of us," Chavez said of former Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos, who is leading opinion polls ahead of next month’s election.
The comment will dampen diplomats’ hopes of a rapprochement between U.S. ally Colombia and Venezuela — whose government is the region’s leading critic of Washington — if Santos wins and replaces his former boss, President Alvaro Uribe.
A feud between Uribe and Chavez has squeezed trade between the Andean nations and heightened tensions on the border.
Drawing applause from a partisan audience attending the Venezuelan-led ALBA summit, Chavez cited Santos’ record as defense minister including a controversial military strike against Colombian guerrillas in Ecuadorean territory in 2008.
"These people feel they have the support of the Yankees," he said, also quoting recent comments by Santos about the need to keep "terrorists" at bay.
Chavez was hosting allies from around the region, including Cuba’s Raul Castro, Bolivia’s Evo Morales, Ecuador’s Rafael Correa and Argentina’s Cristina Fernandez, for the summit which coincided with the bicentennial of Venezuelan independence.
CHAVEZ A NIGHTMARE FOR U.S. – CASTRO
During the day, the former soldier led military processions and other celebrations of the 200th anniversary of Venezuela’s initial declaration of independence from Spain.
Opposition parties are angry he has turned the bicentennial into a show of support for his government. They say he has hijacked Venezuela, ruined its economy, and turned it into a Cuban-style dictatorship. ID:nN18135798
Soldiers from allies around the world, including Cuba and Libya, paraded in Caracas, chanting revolutionary slogans. Newly bought Chinese jets and Russian guns were on display by the Venezuelan military.
"Civilians and soldiers united, the people and their armed forces, guaranteeing Venezuela’s independence," roared Chavez, dressed in military fatigues.
His friend and mentor, former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, sent a glowing tribute effectively saying Chavez had inherited his mantle as the region’s champion against U.S. power.
"He is, today, the person who most worries the imperialists, for his capacity to influence the masses and for the immense natural resources of the nation," Castro wrote.
"Both the empire as well as the mercenaries at its service, intoxicated by lies and consumerism, are ever more at risk of under-estimating him and his heroic people, but I have no doubt they will get an unforgettable lesson."
Chavez began his rule of South America’s leading oil-producer in 1999, and has steered an increasingly radical course since then, nationalizing huge swathes of the economy and declaring himself a Marxist.
He was briefly ousted in 2002 for two days, but came back to power when pro-Chavez military officers gained the upper hand of a chaotic coup attempt.
