CARACAS – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called his Colombian counterpart, Alvaro Uribe, a “mobster” and said there was no possibility of dialogue with the “treasonous” government in Bogota.

“I have nothing to say to the mobster Uribe, because I know that he’s seeking contact. He will have to ask it of the king of Spain or friendly governments, but there’s nothing to talk about with that traitorous government,” Chavez said on Saturday.

“Uribe isn’t a politician. He comes from the world of paramilitarism, drug trafficking, business and shady deals, and he’s capable of anything. He’s a very dangerous man because he has no moral or ethical principles,” the Venezuelan leader said during an event to symbolically award medals the so-called “five Cuban heroes” jailed for spying in the United States.

The insults directed at Uribe were made in the context of Chavez’s references to the recently-signed bilateral accord by which the United States will be able to use several Colombian military bases.

“Starting now if anyone wants to speak with the Colombian government, he’ll have to speak with Washington, which is where the power is,” Chavez said.

“What must the Yankees know about Uribe to be able to impose that on him!” Chavez said after declaring that at the beginning of his political career, the Colombian leader had links with the late Medellin drug cartel leader Pablo Escobar, as well as with paramilitaries and other “mobsters.”

“He will be considered by history to be a disgraceful leader who turned his homeland over to the Yankees,” Chavez said.

Uribe’s public image is being maintained thanks to the fact that “he’s in bed with the big communications media of the oligarchy,” Chavez said.

Last Sunday, Chavez called on Venezuelan soldiers and civilians who support him to prepare for war, after warning the governments of Colombia and the United States that Venezuelans were “ready for anything.”

Chavez issued the strong warning after adopting the view of former Cuban President Fidel Castro that the United States annexed Colombia with the treaty the two nations signed allowing U.S. soldiers to use military bases in the neighboring South American country.