COLOMBIA RECALLS AMBASSADOR

BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) -- Colombia recalled its ambassador to Venezuela "for
consultation" Friday, two days after a Colombian guerrilla leader gave a
speech on the floor of the Venezuelan congress.

The decision reflects rising frictions between the two Andean countries
over Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez' alleged sympathy for Colombian
insurgents and his criticism of Plan Colombia -- a U.S.-backed anti-drug
plan being carried out by Colombian President Andres Pastrana.

In a statement, Colombia's foreign ministry said it was recalling
Ambassador German Bula in order to "evaluate the current state of relations
between the two countries."

The left-leaning Chavez has said Pastrana's plan, backed by $1.3 billion in
mostly military assistance from the United States, will drive refugees,
guerrillas and drug traffickers into his and other neighboring countries.

On Wednesday, Olga Marin, a spokeswoman for the leftist Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, or FARC, addressed a day-long forum about Plan Colombia
held on the floor of Venezuela's National Assembly.

The forum was part of a meeting of a Latin America-wide parliamentary
group. It was not an official session of Venezuela's legislature.

Chavez maintains he is neutral in Colombia's fighting, although a former
intelligence chief accused him this year of funneling arms to the FARC.

On Friday, a senior FARC commander rejected allegations by Mexico's
attorney general that the rebels traded cocaine to a powerful Mexican drug
cartel in return for cash and weapons.

"This is nothing but a montage by Colombian military intelligence...It's
not true," FARC commander Raul Reyes told The Associated Press in a phone
interview.

Mexico's attorney general's office said it had uncovered a cocaine-for-arms
deal linking the FARC to the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix brothers'
organization, one Mexico's largest and most violent gangs.

The FARC recognizes that it taxes cocaine production in huge swaths of
southern Colombia, but denies that it smuggles the drugs abroad. U.S.
officials doubt this claim. Colombia produces most of the world's cocaine.