Venezuela recalls envoy to Peru

[cal04]

Venezuela is withdrawing its ambassador to Lima in response to the same move by the Peruvian government on Sunday. Caracas had initially said it would not reciprocate. Correspondents say the latest move suggests tensions between the two are unlikely to end soon. Relations between the two nations have worsened since President Hugo Chavez called one of the candidates in Peru's election, Alan Garcia, "a thief".

Ex-President Garcia will face Ollanta Humala in an upcoming run-off vote. Mr Ollanta, a nationalist who is seen as a Chavez ally, condemned what he called Venezuela's interference in the Peruvian elections but said the comments had been provoked by Mr Garcia.

The latest Peru-Venezuela spat erupted last week when Mr Chavez criticised Lima's decision to sign a free trade agreement with the US. His comments came as Peruvian officials were still counting the votes from the 9 April election to determine which two candidates would make it to the second round of voting.

Mr Garcia responded accusing the Venezuelan president of being "shameless" for trying to stop other countries from dealing with Washington when he was selling oil the US.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4972158.stm

[Peace Patriot]

1. I'm sorry to see the Bushites' "divide & conquer" strategy succeed, even

to a small degree, with Rice/Chevron "free trade" bullshit causing sniping between Venezuela and Peru. But let's hope that the indigenous and the poor win it all, in the end, with transparent elections--which local civic groups, the OAS, EU election monitoring groups and the Carter Center have been working hard on for many years in South America. By rights, Ollanta Humala--the most representative candidate--should win the presidential election, and that will bring regional cooperative effort and accord among Peru, Venezuela and Bolivia--and political/economic cooperation among all the leftist governments in South America, which have so many goals and principles in common, and need regional strength to fend off the Bush junta and predatory global capitalists. In addition to Venezuela and Bolivia, there are peaceful, democratically elected leftist governments in Chile, Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay; Venezuela has already helped Argentina get out from under crushing IMF debt--lots of good things are happening. Undoubtedly, the Bushites foisted off a "free piracy" agreement on Peru, through its rich elite, in order to stir up trouble. Such agreements are killers of third world economies--they mean slave labor, theft of the country's resources, imbalanced trade, destruction of local business enterprise--most especially in agriculture, affecting the country's ability to feed itself--and desperate poverty. That has been their effect everywhere. That is what's wrong with Mexico right now--and why there are so many people from Mexico looking for work here--the impoverishment that NAFTA has brought. NAFTA has benefited global corporations, and the super-rich, and has left the poor in the dust. That is what will happen in Peru, unless they elect Humala and throw the corporatists out, and join the continent-wide movement for self-determination.

[damntexdem]

2. How dare Chavez disrespect the rules of diplomacy ...

and tell the truth in public? ;-)