Western Hemisphere
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez on Friday suggested the presidents of the Union of South American Nations (Unasur) to organize a committee intended to envisage a "peace initiative" for Colombia, and stressed Venezuela's commitment to regional integration.

"We would like to propose Unasur -even though we know this is not an easy endeavor- to appoint a committee that starts to outline what we may term a peace initiative for Colombia," Chávez said during the special summit of Unasur taking place in Bariloche, Argentina, Efe reported.

Chávez comments came after his Colombian counterpart Álvaro Uribe accused the Venezuelan government of "advocating" leaders of the rebel Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC).

"I am not falling for more provocations," Chávez stated. "The topic here is the (US) bases in Colombia; that is what brought us here," added Chávez, and conceded that the document he read during his first intervention in the summit is not confidential, but "official."

Chávez once again asked Uribe to produce the military cooperation agreement with Washington "for the sake of transparency."