Colombia accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Monday of meddling in its internal affairs and said it would lodge a formal protest before the Organization of American States, Reuters reported.
The accusations came just days before a summit where Chavez is expected to try to rally support against a deal to allow the U.S. military more access to Colombian bases, a plan that has raised concerns across the region, from Brazil to Bolivia.
"The national government will repel any action of this expansionist project in Colombia, ratified publicly by President Hugo Chavez," the Colombian government said in a statement. "In no manner can we accept insults to Colombians."
A fierce critic of U.S. influence in the region, Chavez on Sunday asked members of his socialist party to seek out alliances with leftist Colombian politicians and asked his government to ensure his proposals were heard in Colombia. He had met with Colombian lawmakers recently in Caracas.
Chavez, who has threatened to cut off trade ties with Colombia, also ordered investigations into Colombian companies and branded Colombia and the United States "narcostates."
Luis Hoyos, Colombia's ambassador to the Organization of American States, told local radio Bogota would file a formal protest against Venezuela's "interventionism" with the OAS.
Bilateral trade between the two countries last year topped $6 billion and coffee-producing Colombia supplies much of Venezuelan food imports.
Former soldier Chavez often clashes with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, a U.S. ally, over charges Venezuela has interfered in Colombia's domestic politics and over Colombia's U.S.-backed war on cocaine traffickers and leftist guerrillas.
Regional leaders will meet in Argentina on Friday for a summit of the Unasur group, where governments are expected to discuss the base plan.
But South American leaders had no intention of ganging up on Colombia over the planned U.S. deal at the summit, the foreign ministers of Brazil and Ecuador said on Monday.
"We are not going to put anyone in the dock," Fander Falconi, Ecuador's foreign minister, said during a news conference in Brasilia.
Colombian and U.S. officials have dismissed worries over the base proposal, saying it is an extension of existing cooperation to fight drug smugglers and leftist rebels waging Latin America's oldest-running insurgency.
