Reprinted from Caribbean Net News
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KINGSTOWN, St. Vincent: Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines, Dr. Ralph Gonsalves, on Tuesday said he felt “great distress” when he read on the CNN website that an American Christian broadcaster, Pat Robertson, had called for the United States to assassinate Venezuela’s president, Hugo Chavez.
Gonsalves condemned the statement which he described as “a direct encouragement of the barbarism of terrorism.”
He said his government “rejects it unequivocally in the same way as we reject terrorism in all forms.”
CNN reported that Robertson told viewers of the “700 Club Show” Monday that Chavez is "a dangerous enemy to our south, controlling a huge pool of oil, that could hurt us [the United State] badly."
Robertson said Chavez was "a terrific danger" since he had destroyed the Venezuelan economy and was making that a launching pad for exporting Communism and Islamic extremism across the Americas.
"…I don’t know about this doctrine of assassination but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it. It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war," Robertson added.
“This utterance by Robertson, is a direct encouragement of the barbarism of terrorism. When you have a responsible -- so called responsible leader-- who calls for the liquidation of any human being and more particularly a democratically elected leader in a country is an incitement to terrorism and this government rejects it unequivocally in the same way as we reject terrorism in all forms,” Gonsalves said.
“Right thinking and peace loving peoples -- democratic persons -- individuals who have a balanced and reasonable temper for justice and freedom self determination and wisdom must take a strong stance against this,” he added.
Venezuela is one of the countries that Gonsalves on August 8 said forms a “coalition of the willing” to finance the construction of an EC$480m international airport in St. Vincent.
“… when we have our village battles we must remember where the real battles are and there are some people in this world who want to emasculate our country’s independence and our sovereignty, our freedom and dignity as human beings,” Gonsalves told reporters Monday.
“I have spent my life, certainly over the last 38 years, defending our dignity in the region; our right to self determination and independence and for peace and tranquility. It is too late in the day now for me to accommodate myself for anyone who utters a position which is barbaric and terroristic.”
Gonsalves explained that Chavez has had to face seven elections over the last seven years and has won all of them. He noted that former U.S. president was among the persons observing these elections and who gave everything a clean bill of health”.
Gonsalves, along with Chavez, on the invitation of Cuban President Dr. Fidel Castro, travelled to Cuba last weekend to attend a graduation ceremony.
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