Nov. 19 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan troops blew up two foot bridges that connect the country with Colombia, heightening tensions that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said could lead to war.

Venezuelan soldiers detonated explosives on suspended rope bridges crossing the Tachira River near the Colombian hamlet of Ragonvalia, northeastern Norte de Santander province, Colombian Defense Minister Gabriel Silva said in a statement posted today on the ministry’s Web site. Venezuelan Vice President Ramon Carrizalez said the bridges were used to move contraband.

“When in remote places we find improvised runways or any other construction used fundamentally for drug trafficking and contraband, we are obligated to defend our sovereignty,” Carrizalez said on state television.

Chavez last week told his military to prepare to resist an invasion by Colombia, which signed an agreement to give U.S. troops access to Colombian bases. Colombia’s government has denied any intention of attacking Venezuela and says the U.S. accord will help fight drug trafficking and domestic terrorism.

“It’s an act of calculated hostility,” said Alfredo Rangel, a former member of Colombia’s state Security Council and head of a Bogota research group, the Security and Democracy Foundation. “You can’t say this was something accidental.”

Border Crossing

Venezuelan troops began to cross the bridges into Colombian territory, daily El Tiempo cited unidentified Ragonvalia officials as saying. Colombian residents threw stones at the soldiers, who detonated explosives to destroy the bridges, the Bogota-based newspaper cited Ragonvalia police as saying.

“This action represents a violation of international and humanitarian law,” Silva said in the statement. “It is an aggression against civilians. The bridges destroyed on the Venezuelan side are essentially community foot-crossings.”

Carrizalez accused Colombia of “manipulating the story.” He said no Venezuelan forces entered Colombia and his country had committed no aggression against its neighbor.

Relations between Venezuela and Colombia have crumbled since last year after President Alvaro Uribe accused Chavez of financing and supplying leftist Colombian rebels. Colombia says the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC as the drug- funded rebels are known, uses Venezuela as a transit route to smuggle drugs overseas.

Border Trafficking

Colombia’s border with Venezuela is rife with guerrillas and paramilitary groups, as well as independent narco- traffickers. Colombia is the source of as much as 80 percent of the cocaine smuggled into the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

“We have army personnel in the area,” said Silva. Colombia said it would denounce the acts before the Organization of American States and the United Nations Security Council.

Chavez ordered an increase of troops along the 2,000- kilometer (1,250-mile) border between Venezuela and Colombia earlier this month and said he may declare a state of emergency after two officials from the National Guard patrolling near a border post were shot and killed by unidentified people.

“It’s almost like somebody’s hitting a piece of flint trying to get a spark going,” said Adam Isacson, director of the Center for International Policy in Washington. “The minor incidents are coming fast and furious. If you’re looking for a casus belli, something is coming up almost every day.”

Colombian Agents

Colombia’s intelligence agency, the Administrative Security Department, or DAS, said last week it detained four Venezuelan national guardsmen crossing into Colombia in a motorboat. Venezuela earlier arrested three individuals it said were DAS agents and has held a Colombian on spying charges since September.

Spokeswomen at the Venezuelan Defense Ministry and Foreign Ministry declined to comment when contacted by Bloomberg News.

“We’re not going to see an all out war,” Isacson said. “But we could see a several-day running battle -- an actual shooting battle -- between official forces, that claims a lot of casualties and ends quickly with one side trying to show its superior military prowess.”

To contact the reporter on this story: Alexander Cuadros in Bogota at acuadros@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 19, 2009 19:10 EST