Border Partly Closed During Recall Petition
Venezuela said it had partially closed its frontier with Colombia in a move that opponents of President Hugo Chavez criticized as an effort to undermine their campaign for a referendum on his leftist rule.
Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel implied that the border closure was intended to stop electoral fraud by Venezuelans living in Colombia during the opposition campaign to gather signatures for a vote.
The opposition criticized the move as an attempt to prevent Venezuelans in Colombia from crossing the border to join the four-day signature drive.
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