Latin America: Week in Review, Venezuela
Hugo Chávez Accuses U.S. & Political Opponents Of Preparing For War In Libya
March 14, 2011 By Staff
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez
Today in Latin America
Top Story — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused his political opponents over the weekend of trying to divide the military in a move aimed at creating a Libya-like uprising in Venezuela after next year’s presidential election.
Chávez added that the conflict would give the United States justification to lead a military invasion of Venezuela.
“They want to divide the armed forces,” said Chavez, according to The Associated Press. “The empire has a plan that has worked in Libya.”
Chavez, an ally of Libyan dictator Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, criticized U.S. President Barack Obama for supporting the Libyan opposition and predicted a larger war in Libya could push world oil prices to $200 a barrel.
“If the Yankees (attempt) the madness of invading Libya — Gaddafi already said it a few days ago — it would be a new Vietnam,” Chávez said, according to The Canadian Press. He also proposed a “humanitarian commission” to travel to Libya to seek a peaceful resolution to the conflict.
Chávez added that his proposal for a peace effort would respect “the self-determination and freedom of Libya, which is a sister nation.”
Headlines from the Western Hemisphere
North America
- The mayor and police chief of a New Mexico town were arrested for being part of a smuggling ring selling weapons to drug cartels in Mexico.
- A wildfire in southern Arizona spread across the border of the Coronado National Forest into neighboring Mexico.
Caribbean
- Cuban opposition leader Oscar Elias Biscet was released from prison after eight years and allowed to return to his home in this capital.
- The Puerto Rican economy stands to net roughly $28 million from a succession of international sporting events on the island, according to the Puerto Rico Tourism Company, a state-run agency.
Central America
- Nicaragua could reopen its lawsuit against the United States in the International Court of Justice in the Hague for the U.S. dirty war of the 1980s.
Andes
- Wildlife officers captured a snake about 9.75 feet long in an area of open ground near a home occupied by children that is part of a day care facility in Colombia.
- Peru’s most heavily guarded prisoners were evacuated from the maximum-security prison at El Callao naval base under the threat of a possible tsunami on Friday.
Southern Cone
- The family of former Chilean President Salvador Allende will allow Allende’s body to be exhumed for clues about his death on September 11, 1973 and the 19973-1990 dictatorship that followed under Augusto Pinochet.
- French President Nicolas Sarkozy pledged to transfer technology from its Rafale fighter jet to Brazil as part of a potential multi-billion dollar defense contract between the countries.
- An Argentine government official said that there was no “discomfort” in the Fernández de Kirchner administration because U.S. President Barack Obama would not visit Argentina on his upcoming trip to South America.
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