CARACAS (AFP) -- President Hugo Chavez on Sunday warned Colombia that he would hit back hard militarily if Colombian troops were to stray into Venezuelan territory as they did in Ecuador.

"Sadly, and it would hurt me to the bottom of my soul, I would immediately have the Suhkoi fighters fired up and the armored tanks; I am not going to let anyone disrespect Venezuela's sovereignty for anything in the world," Chavez said on his weekly television and radio show "Alo, Presidente."

Chavez called Colombian Defense Minister Juan Manuel Santos a "threat to the peace in South America" and charged that he hoped to "turn Colombia into the Israel of South America."

He also said he had discussed the issues with Colombian President Alvaro Uribe by phone.

The Venezuelan president was responding with a verbal broadside after Santos, in an interview March 1 in the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, argued that Colombia had a legitimate right to self-defense that allows it to attack what Bogota sees as "terrorists systematically attacking the country even if they are not located inside its own territory."

He referred to a case last year in which Colombian troops crossed inside Ecuador's border on the trail of Marxist FARC rebels, and killed about 20 people including number-two rebel leader Raul Reyes.

Chavez said: "I spoke yesterday with President Uribe to confirm that we do not want conflicts with Colombia.

"Well watch out President Uribe with this far right-wing trend, because I don't even want to think about it crossing Minister Santos' mind to do the crazy thing in Venezuela you did last year in Ecuador," Chavez stressed.

Santos has said he would run for president next year.

Chavez ventured that from the United States point of view, "a war between Colombia and Venezuela, between Colombia and Ecuador would be ideal to justify an intervention."

"I hope President (Barack) Obama keeps his word and respects sovereignty around the world," Chavez said.

Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez was set to meet Monday in Caracas with Chavez, official sources said in Caracas.

  (END) Dow Jones Newswires
  03-08-09 2221ET
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