President Hugo Chavez said Sunday on his radio talk show that neighboring Colombia is trying to provoke Venezuela into a war so as to draw in and "justify" an armed intervention by the United States.

"The government of Colombia is capable of provoking a war with Venezuela to justify a US intervention in Venezuela," Chavez said on his weekly program "Alo Presidente."

He warned Colombian President Alvaro Uribe: "think closely about how far you can go, and I publicly urge you a moment of reflection."

Chavez and Uribe locked horns in March after a Colombian military attack on a Colombian rebel camp inside Ecuador -- a leftist ally of Venezuela -- triggered a week-long row that sent Ecuadoran and Colombian troops to their borders with Venezuela.

Chavez and Uribe have also sparred over mediation attempts to get some 40 prominent hostages of the rebel Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia released, including French-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt.

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