Venezuela Leader Says Ties Restored with Panama

[Judi Lynn]

Venezuela Leader Says Ties Restored with Panama

World | Associated Press | Updated: July 02, 2014 11:51 IST

Caracus: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says his government is restoring diplomatic relations with Panama now that the Central American country has a new president.

Maduro broke off relations on March 5 after Panama requested that the Organization of American States urgently address a political crisis in Venezuela that resulted from months of violent anti-government protests.

Maduro made his announcement following the Tuesday swearing-in of Juan Carlos Varela as Panama's president.

There has been no comment from Panama, but the conservative Varela has repeatedly said he would week to restore relations with Venezuela's socialist government. Varela has said that he and Maduro have a friendship dating back to when they were the foreign ministers for their countries.

http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/venezuela-leader-says-ties-restored-with-panama-551568?curl=1404286049

[Judi Lynn]

1. After President Varela's Inauguration, Panama and Venezuela Are Friends Again

After President Varela's Inauguration, Panama and Venezuela Are Friends Again
By Brianna Lee
on July 02 2014 5:56 PM

Shortly after Panama’s new president, Juan Carlos Varela, was sworn into office Tuesday, his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás Maduro announced he would be restoring full diplomatic ties with the Central American country, ending almost four months of suspended relations between the two after a spat in which Maduro had called Panama's president a "lackey."

“I send a greeting to the president of Panama,” Maduro said on a national radio broadcast Tuesday evening. “We have reestablished diplomatic and political relations today, July 1, and we will deepen economic, diplomatic, and commercial energy ties. Applause and a hug to the Panamanian people.” Earlier Tuesday, Venezuelan vice president Jorge Arreaza also confirmed at Varela’s inauguration that the two countries had restored their relationship.

Maduro’s statement struck a markedly different tone from his last public remarks on Panama on March 5, when he condemned then-president Ricardo Martinelli as a “lackey” of the United States and unilaterally froze all ties. That move came after Martinelli issued a request for the Organization of American States -- the regional body leftist Latin American leaders have often criticized for being dominated by Washington’s agenda-- to mediate Venezuela’s political crisis, then reaching the height of its turmoil with daily anti-government street protests and a mounting death toll.

Martinelli, in turn, called the move “immature” and pointed out that Venezuela still owed Panama a debt of more than $1 billion. He stoked Maduro’s ire even further by accusing the Venezuelan leader of financing Martinelli’s political rivals in Panama’s May presidential election, and by inviting Maria Corina Machado, one of Venezuela’s top opposition leaders, to join Panama’s delegation to the OAS summit in late March.

More:
http://www.ibtimes.com/after-president-varelas-inauguration-panama-venezuela-are-friends-again-1617742

[delrem]

2. Here's another bit of music.

It's in fact from a prophet of out times, Bob Marley, in a most quiet moment.