Venezuela says it has captured Colombian "spies"

By Ana Isabel Martinez

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela said on Tuesday that it had captured Colombian security agents it said planned to destabilize the government, heightening tensions in the ongoing diplomatic row between the Andean nations.

Venezuelan Deputy Foreign Minister Francisco Arias Cardenas confirmed that there had been arrests, but did not provide details or say how many Colombians were detained.

"Do not underestimate the importance of an event as serious and as grave as the capture of Colombian DAS security agents committing acts of espionage," Cardenas told reporters.

He said Venezuela would present evidence to support the charges in the next few hours.

Diplomatic and commercial ties between the South American neighbours have been frayed before. Earlier this year, President Hugo Chavez suspended relations and reduced trade over a Colombian plan to allow U.S. troops to use seven of its bases.

Tensions between Caracas and Bogota were reignited over the weekend after the murder of 10 members of an amateur Colombian football team across the border in Venezuela, an incident the Venezuelan government said it would investigate.

Colombia's security agency DAS issued a statement denying that it had sent agents into Venezuela to spy or to destabilize the government.

Maria Luisa Chiape, the Colombian ambassador to Venezuela, said, "I will not be provoked. I think it is important not to lose sight of the central point that is the fact 10 people, including eight Colombians, were killed in a massacre."