Colombia `Worried` About Wiretaps In Venezuela

Left-winger Chavez has clashed in the past with Colombian leader Alvaro Uribe, who is Washington`s main ally in South America

Colombia is worried about the wiretapping of one of its diplomats in Venezuela who was recorded expressing satisfaction at last month's opposition victory in local elections there.

"There is a serious worry that there are interceptions of the communications of a Colombian diplomat," Colombian Foreign Minister Jaime Bermudez told reporters in Bogota on Monday.

Carlos Galvis, Colombian consul in Venezuelan commercial city Maracaibo, stepped down over the weekend when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez threatened to expel him after a recording of a telephone conversation was broadcast on Venezuela state television in which Galvis said he was happy that opposition politicians won local races last month.

Bermudez also criticized Galvis for making comments about internal Venezuelan affairs during his conversation with Colombian presidential adviser Jose Obdulio Gaviria.

Neither the Venezuelan government nor the television station has revealed the origin of the recordings.

Left-winger Chavez has clashed in the past with Colombian leader Alvaro Uribe, who is Washington's main ally in South America.