Venezuela seeks to lower tone in US diplomatic spat
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| Published on Monday, September 15, 2008 |
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CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez sought to lower the tone of a diplomatic spat with the United States, saying he doesn't plan to take more steps against his country's biggest oil customer.
Chavez thrust the OPEC nation into its worst diplomatic crisis with the Bush administration in years by expelling the US ambassador on Thursday, triggering a feud between Washington and Latin America's leftist leaders.
The move came after Chavez' ally, Bolivian President Evo Morales, threw out the American ambassador in La Paz, accusing him of fomenting protests against his leftist government.
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| Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez. Bloomberg photo |
"We don't have any other plan, it was only a strong diplomatic gesture taken with a brother country," Chavez told state-run television late on Friday.
"Only the United States can change our energy and commercial relationship," he added.
The United States, in retaliation for Chavez's decision, on Friday imposed sanctions on Venezuelan officials it accused of helping Colombian rebels smuggle drugs, deepening the diplomatic crisis that raised the specter of an oil supply cutoff.
The sanctions were announced in Washington a day after Chavez also threatened to halt crude sales to the United States. Chavez warned that world crude prices would immediately double to above $200 a barrel if he cut off oil exports to the United States.
Tensions with Washington were already high after Chavez allowed two Russian long-range bombers to land in Venezuela and took Moscow's side in disputes over Georgia and U.S. plans for a missile shield in eastern Europe.
The clash is part of a long-brewing conflict between the United States and Latin America's bloc of left-wing leaders antagonistic to traditional US dominance in the region.
Chavez said Chilean President Michelle Bachelet convened a special meeting of South American presidents in Santiago, Chile, on Monday to discuss the situation in Bolivia. Chavez accused the Bolivian opposition of seeking to topple the government.
"We're going to take decisions so that the world and ... the fascists in Bolivia know that we aren't going to accept any other government that isn't the legitimate elected government," Chavez said.
Violent anti-government protests have killed at least 17 people in Bolivia, where rightist governors have rebelled against Morales, demanding autonomy and rejecting his plans to overhaul the constitution and break up ranches to give land to poor Indians.
Morales declared martial law late on Friday in Bolivia's remote Amazon region of Pando, site of the worst violence. | | | | Reads : 747 | | | |
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