Chávez Meets With His New Colombian Counterpart

By SIMON ROMERO

LIMA, Peru — Colombia’s new president, Juan Manuel Santos, met with his Venezuelan counterpart, Hugo Chávez, on Tuesday in an effort to repair relations that had sharply deteriorated over claims by Colombia’s government that Colombian guerrillas were operating from Venezuelan soil.

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Mauricio Duenas/EFE, via European Pressphoto Agency

President Hugo Chávez of Venezuela and President Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia met in Santa Marta, a city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

The meeting in Santa Marta, a city on Colombia’s Caribbean coast, appeared to mark an unexpected reconciliation between the two men, who lie on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum. They had often traded insults with each other before Mr. Santos was elected president in June.

But on Tuesday, both men adopted a different tone, in recognition of the damage to the economies of both countries caused by the escalating tension. Trade between Colombia and Venezuela plunged more than 30 percent in 2009 from the previous year, after Venezuela imposed restrictions on Colombian imports.

“We have every desire for this meeting to produce lasting results,” said Mr. Santos, 59, a staunchly pro-American economist who served as defense minister in the administration of his predecessor, Álvaro Uribe.

Mr. Chávez, 56, arrived in Santa Marta with various flourishes, carrying red flowers for his hosts and wearing a colorful jacket with the design of Venezuela’s flag. “Colombia, I come to ratify my love, which will be eternal,” he said shortly before the meeting began in the afternoon.

The leaders may have had little choice but to hold their noses and shake hands. Mr. Chávez has said he plans to be re-elected to a new six-year term in 2012, while Mr. Santos may already be eyeing a second four-year term in 2014.

“That means they both expect to be in power cheek to cheek until 2018,” said Myles Frechette, a former United States ambassador to Colombia. “Therefore, it’s in both of their interests to learn to get along.”

Still, that did not mean that the leaders’ encounter would not be infused with tension over comments each had made in the past.

In April, Mr. Chávez referred to Mr. Santos as “a wolf dressed up as Little Red Riding Hood,” while also contending that Mr. Santos had been part of a conspiracy to assassinate him.

Mr. Santos, for his part, has been among the most outspoken members of Colombia’s political establishment in deriding Mr. Chávez. In an essay written before he was elected president, Mr. Santos acknowledged that Mr. Chávez had been legitimately elected, but added, “like other demagogues converted into tyrants, so were Hitler, Mussolini, Aristide and Fujimori.”

During his campaign, Mr. Santos tempered his criticisms somewhat, although at one point he said tensions with Venezuela would continue, no matter who won the Colombian presidential election, because Mr. Chávez would have problems “even with Mother Teresa of Calcutta.”

Some of the tension between the countries can be traced to the relations each has with the United States. Colombia, a major recipient of American security aid, is Washington’s top ally in Latin America. Mr. Chávez, meanwhile, has nurtured an antagonistic relationship with the United States. He said last weekend that he would refuse to accept Larry L. Palmer, the newly designated American ambassador to Venezuela, after Mr. Palmer referred to the problem of low morale in Venezuela’s armed forces.

But economic ties between Venezuela and Colombia may override other concerns. The decline in trade has damaged some Colombian companies, which relied on Venezuela to absorb about 20 percent of Colombia’s exports. Meanwhile, Venezuela’s sharp recession has been accentuated by shortages of basic foods and other goods, many of which were traditionally imported from Colombia.