OTAVALO, Ecuador,  (Reuters) – Venezuela’s President  Hugo Chavez yesterday said Colombia’s next president, Juan  Manuel Santos, should end U.S. access to military bases,  signaling that an easing of Andean tensions could be short.

Colombia and OPEC member Venezuela have been locked in a  dispute that has battered bilateral trade since last year when  Colombia signed a deal with the United States to allow U.S.  troops more access to its military bases.

But since Santos’ landslide election win on Sunday  Venezuela has been cautiously conciliatory. The foreign  ministry congratulated Santos while saying it would be watching  what the Colombian leader says and does in office.

Santos, son of an influential Bogota family, and leftist  Chavez have clashed in the past. The president-elect has said  that he and the former soldier are like “oil and water” but  that they could work together if there was respect.

“Hopefully the new government of Colombia will retire the  bases from the sacred ground of Colombia,” Chavez said at a  meeting with Ecuador’s President Rafael Correa and Bolivia’s  President Evo Morales.

“We are going to go with the sacred words in the Bible, by  their fruit we shall know them,” said Chavez, who has  previously called Santos a danger for Latin America.