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Poll: Chavez played key role in standoff


Published: March 20, 2008 at 11:55 PM
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CARACAS, Venezuela, March 20 (UPI) -- More than half of Venezuelans say President Hugo Chavez played a key role in diffusing tensions in South America amid a diplomatic spat involving three nations.

Venezuelan pollster Veneop SA found that 56 percent of Venezuelans polled said Chavez played an important role in ending the hostilities with Ecuador and Colombia, after Colombian forces entered Ecuador to kill a Colombian rebel leader, El Nacional reported Thursday.

Ecuador and Venezuela both severed diplomatic ties with Colombia after the March 1 incident and sent troops to their respective borders with Colombia.

Chavez and the leaders of Ecuador and Colombia met a week later in the Dominican Republic during a scheduled regional summit, and agreed to end the hostilities.

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