Colombian vice-president elect Angelino Garzón said in an interview with an Ecuadorian radio station that he "highly" appreciated the call made by Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez to the Colombian guerrillas to "reconsider" their armed strategy.

"I highly value the recent statements made by President Hugo Chávez when he told the Colombian guerrilla that they have no reason to exist," Garzón told Radio Quito. He recalled that Cuban former President Fidel Castro made the same call "some years ago," AFP reported.

Garzón also highlighted Chávez's statements when the Venezuelan ruler said that "we must find ways to prevent the existence of illegal armed groups in any" of the countries of the region.

Chávez said last Friday that the Colombian guerrillas should "reconsider their armed strategy" because they have become "the excuse" used by the United States to "penetrate" Colombia. Chávez's comments came one day after he broke relations with Bogotá.

Source: ElUniversal.com