IAN JAMES
CARACAS
Colombia and its allies in Washington represent war, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said yesterday, and an eventual conflict with the US is inevitable.

"It must be said: They, the empire and its lackeys, are war," Chavez said in a televised speech, his first since Colombia alleged that documents seized from a leftist rebel's computer prove the Venezuelan leader has been supporting the guerrillas for years.

"We are the path to peace," said Chavez, who ordered 10 battalions of troops to reinforce the border after Colombia entered Ecuadorean territory to attack a leftist rebel hideout.

But Chavez said that as long as Colombian President Alvaro does what Washington tells him, conflict is inevitable. "Venezuela will never again be a US colony," he said.

Chavez spoke as diplomats from many countries struggled to defuse the crisis sparked by the Colombian attack.

Ecuador rejected a Colombian apology for the incident as insufficient before an emergency meeting of the Organisation of American States, where the US was the only country to offer Colombia unqualified support. Many other countries worried openly about the violation to Ecuador's sovereignty, despite complaints that Venezuela and Ecuador have long provided refuge to leftist Colombian guerrillas.

Chavez has warned Colombia that Venezuela would respond militarily to any violation of its border, and Venezuela's Justice Minister ramped up the threat on Tuesday by declaring that war "has already begun".

The military strike on Ecuadorean soil, which killed two dozen rebels, gave Colombian commandos an intelligence bonanza in the form of laptops they seized, including the computer of rebel leader Raul Reyes.

Documents on the machine indicated Reyes had been secretly negotiating with representatives of France, Venezuela, Ecuador, the US and other countries trying to free rebel-held hostages including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three American defence contractors.

Those representatives included Ecuador's Interior Minister, Gustavo Larrea, who said that he does not rule out the possibility the rebels still might release Betancourt.

Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa, on a six-nation tour, called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a liar who "wanted war", and warned that if the attack goes unpunished "the region will be in danger because the next vic-tim could be Peru, ... Brazil, Venezuela, Bolivia, any one of our countries."

But Uribe said he would not allow his nation to be drawn into war.

Venezuela was sending about 9000 soldiers - 10 battalions - to the border region as a "preventive" measure. Ecuador said it has sent 3200 troops to the border.