Venezuelan, Colombian leaders meet to bury the hatchet

PUNTO FIJO, Venezuela (AFP) — The presidents of Venezuela and Colombia, Hugo Chavez and Alvaro Uribe, put aside months of animosity to meet in northwest Venezuela with the aim of normalizing ties.

"As of now, a new stage begins with Colombia," Chavez told a joint press conference Friday.

The leaders, who held their two-hour talks in the town of Punto Fijo, had nourished sharp differences on the issue of the FARC, Colombia's notorious guerrilla group, with Chavez ideologically supporting them and Uribe considering them a terrorist threat to be eradicated.

But with the liberation early this month of 15 FARC hostages, including Franco-Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and three US defense contractors, and the weakening of the rebels' leadership, the situation has changed in Uribe's favor.

Chavez has since stepped away from his rhetorical backing of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia guerrillas and ended his insults ...