Chavez Says U.S. Nuclear Probe Part of Anti-Venezuela Campaign

[ChangoLoa]

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601086&sid=a9OcZ7LRGWN0

By Steven Bodzin

Oct. 21 (Bloomberg) -- A U.S. investigation into an ex- nuclear scientist is being used to create the perception that Venezuela wants nuclear weapons, President Hugo Chavez said.

Chavez, in a televised cabinet meeting, read aloud a New York Times story about U.S. authorities searching the home of P. Leonardo Mascheroni, a former Los Alamos National Laboratory scientist who said he met with a man claiming to represent the Venezuelan government to discuss nuclear science.

“This is part of a well conceived plan against Venezuela,” Chavez said. “Creating a public opinion that this is a nuclear government, of atomic bombs and such, when the first atomic bomb here was in the United States.”

Mascheroni, who has proposed building a laser capable of producing nuclear fusion, said in the New York Times story he never shared secrets and had no intention of developing a laser in Venezuela.

Russia is teaching Venezuelan students nuclear science as part of Chavez’s effort to develop a nuclear power program in the South American country. Iran is helping Venezuela inventory its mineral resources, including uranium, Mining Minister Rodolfo Sanz said Oct. 9.