The United States government is "the terrorist government par excellence," Venezuela's representative in the Organisation of American States (OAS), Jorge Valero said in response to Washington's threats to list Venezuela as a "terrorist" nation for supposedly funding the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
"This is an aberration, an absolutely stupid thing to say from the government of Mr Bush, which is the terrorist government par excellence, that practices state terrorism, that has invaded Iraq and Afghanistan without respect for international law, that commits genocidal practices in various parts of the world, that has invaded Latin American and Caribbean countries, that aims to present itself as the moral conscience of the world," Valero said in an interview with state-owned television station VTV.
U.S. President George W. Bush today accused Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez of backing "terrorists" in neighboring Colombia and using his countries oil wealth to fuel an anti-American campaign across Latin America.
Bush made the comments in an address to the U.S. Hispanic Chamber of Commerce in Washington as he called on the U.S. congress to ratify the US-Colombia free trade agreement. Democrats in the Congress have stalled the passage of the agreement pointing to Colombia's appalling human rights record.
Bush argued the accord is "pivotal" to countering the influence of Chavez throughout Latin America. Since it was first elected in 1998, the Chavez government has used billions of dollars of oil revenue to fund social programs that provide free education and healthcare to the poor and has spearheaded a continental wide revolt against neo-liberalism and U.S. domination.
"As it tries to expand its influence in Latin America, the regime claims to promote social justice. In truth its agenda amounts to little more than empty promises and a thirst for power," Bush claimed in his speech.
Bush also criticized Chavez's response to Colombia's March 1 military incursion into Ecuador that among 21 others killed Raul Reyes, the FARC second in command, only days after the guerrilla group had unilaterally released four prisoners to Venezuelan authorities.
"The president of Venezuela praised the terrorist leader as a good revolutionary and ordered his troops to the Colombian border," the US president said.
Twenty-one archconservative Republican lawmakers including Connie Mack and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen from Florida are calling for Venezuela to be placed on the U.S. Statement Department list of countries that sponsor terrorism, claiming that Venezuela has close links with the FARC.
The Colombian government last week released excerpts of documents supposedly found on laptops belonging to the FARC seized during the Colombian military's raid in Ecuador, claiming they showed that the Venezuelan government had recently made a payment of $300 million to the guerrillas.
However, the only reference to the alleged $300 million reads; "... With relation to the 300, which from now on we will call "dossier," efforts are now going forward at the instructions of the boss to the cojo
, which I will explain in a separate note. Let's call the boss Ángel, and the cripple Ernesto." It does not mention Chavez or the Venezuelan government.
The Colombian government has reportedly called in experts from Interpol to analyze the veracity of the documents.
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3266
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