Hugo Ch?vez
~ ~ ~ Thorn in the side of new world order ~ ~ ~
By Vincent Browne
Hugo Ch?vez may have been in Bertie Ahern's mind when he visited George Bush in Washington before St Patrick's Day. Bertie swore obedience to American world hegemony, to its "war on terrorism" and to everything it entailed.
He didn't quite put it like that but that was the message and George Bush acknowledged it as such. The President of Venezuela, the most "yankified" of South American states, had failed to offer appropriate obeisance.
Ch?vez has characterised the US bombardment of Afghanistan as responding to "terror with terror". He brandished photographs of Afghan children killed by US bombs and called for an end to "the
slaughter of the innocents".
The US response to this impertinence was to send its ambassador, Donna Hrinak, to see Ch?vez. They had what a US official said (according to the Washington Post of February 23rd) "a very difficult meeting". She told the democratically elected president (again according to the Washington Post) "to keep his mouth shut on these important issues".
Washington doesn't like Ch?vez for other reasons. First he has had the temerity to invite Fidel Castro to Caracas. He also visited Libya, Iran and Iraq, all members, with Venezuela, of OPEC, through which he arranged for a substantial increase in the price of oil (the Americans were especially indignant over his visit to Saddam Hussein).
[see complete article --->
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/opinion/2002/0410/3888033530OP10VINCENT.html
? The Irish Times