President Hugo Chávez yesterday placed Venezuela on a war footing, sending thousands of troops and tanks to the border with Colombia after its neighbour killed a top rebel leader inside Ecuadorean territory.

“Mr. Defense Minister, move me 10 battalions to the border with Colombia immediately - tank battalions,” Mr Chávez boomed on his weekly television programme, Aló Presidente. He also placed the Venezuelan Air Force on standby for action.

“We do not want war”, said Mr Chávez, before adding that the slaying of rebel commander Raúl Reyes and Colombia’s incursion into Ecuadorean territory could not go unanswered. “I am putting Venezuela on alert and we will support Ecuador in any situation,” Mr Chávez said.

Mr Reyes, one of the Marxist Farc guerrillas’ most senior commanders, was killed on Saturday along with 16 other militants in a camp 1 mile inside Ecuadorean territory.

Mr Chávez lambasted the action, calling it “a cowardly murder, coldly calculated”. He paid tribute to Reyes, hailing him as “a true revolutionary” and recalling that he had met him in Brazil in 1995.

Mr Chávez also blasted his Colombian counterpart, Álvaro Uribe, calling him a criminal and a puppet of the US Government. “Dracula’s fangs are covered in blood,” he said of the conservative Colombian president, who has made fighting the drug-financed rebels a top priority.

Colombia has received billions of dollars in US military aid to fight Farc, which is regarded by the US and European Union as a terrorist organization.

Colombia has explained that its troops killed the rebels after being engaged in a firefight. “Colombia has not violated any sovereignty, only acted in accordance with the principal of legitimate defence,” the government said in a statement.

However, Ecuador - ruled by a close ally of Chávez -- has not accepted that explanation and closed its embassy in Bogotá. Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa called the incursion “scandalous” and lodged an official protest with Bogotá.

The Colombian president has long complained that Venezuela and Ecuador have allowed Farc guerrillas to take refuge in their territory. “The terrorists, among them Raúl Reyes, were used to killing in Colombia and invading the neighboring countries to hide,” the Colombian Government said. “Many times Colombia has suffered these situations, which we are obliged to avoid to defend our citizens.” Mr Chávez had been acting as a mediator in Colombia’s hostage crisis, attempting to secure the release of 40-odd high-profile hostages in return for the freedom of hundreds of jailed rebels. But the effort collapsed in a wave of recriminations when Mr Uribe accused the Venezuelan government of backing Farc in its four-decade long bid to overthrow the Colombian Government.

Yesterday, Mr Chávez made no secret of his desire to see the Marxist rebels defeat the Colombian government. “Some day Colombia will be freed from the hand of the (US) empire,” he said. “We have to liberate Colombia.” Mr Chávez has regularly used diplomatic spats with other countries such as Colombia, Mexico and Spain to fire-up his supporters and sideline opponents. In December, the Venezuelan president suffered his first poll defeat in nine years when voters rejected his attempt to rewrite the country’s constitution.

The reform would have granted Mr Chávez virtually unchecked power, theoretically allowing him to govern the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter for life. Mr Chavez has said he wishes to rule until 2050, when he would be 96 years old.

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