The Associated Press
Miami Herald
May 31, 2008
CARACAS, Venezuela -- President Hugo Chavez says one person died in an armed encounter between Venezuelan soldiers and an unidentified subversive group along the Colombian border.
Chavez says Venezuela's interior minister told him of the Friday clash but did not know who the subversives were. Leftist rebels, right-wing militias and drug gangs operate in Colombia.
It wasn't clear if the encounter took place in Venezuela or Colombia.
Relations between the neighbors have been strained since Colombia raided a rebel camp in Ecuador last March and charges that Chavez has financed Colombian guerrillas.
Chavez used a Saturday speech to urge members of his new socialist party to fight hard in November elections to win seats in areas bordering Colombia.
