国际英语新闻：Venezuela breaks off diplomatic ties with Colombia

Meanwhile, the Venezuelan National Assembly (NA) also supported the decision of Chavez of breaking off diplomatic ties with Colombia.

Leader of the Legislative Power Cilia Flores told reporters that Venezuela had showed in several occasions concrete actions to avoid breaking off ties with Colombia, but Colombian President Alvaro Uribe "has failed and goes through the back door."

"We hope to retake the ties with the Colombian people, with whom we have strong ties," Flores added.

Meanwhile, the president of the electoral power Tibisay Lucena also supported Chavez's decision and said that Colombian observers will not come to his country for the coming legislative elections on Sept. 26.

However, visiting Colombian Vice President-elect Angelino Garzon said in Caracas, Venezuela's capital, on Thursday that the future government of Colombia's President-elect Juan Manuel Santos will seek "all the diplomatic mechanisms" to normalize the ties with the countries in the region, after knowing the announcement made by Chavez.

After having a meeting with Ecuadorian Vice President Lenin Moreno, Garzon said that "since Aug. 7, we, led by Santos as future president of Colombia, will make all the possibilities and use all the friends we have in several countries of the world, and will seek all the diplomatic mechanisms to improve and strengthen the ties with all the countries of the region, including Venezuela. "