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AFP. 10 April 2002. US warns it could seek diplomatic isolation of Venezuela if rights violated. WASHINGTON -- The United States warned Wednesday it could seek to isolate Venezuela diplomatically should President Hugo Chavez's embattled government fail to protect the freedom of expression or labor rights. President George W. Bush is increasingly concerned about the possibility of destabilization in Venezuela, the number three US oil producer, and fears an expansion of the general strike underway -- which began Tuesday -- could affect oil exports, according to a State Department official who spoke privately. "The real concern is that Venezuela could become ungovernable" because opposition to Chavez is weak and offers no real alternative political program, the official said. With a "crisis in the Middle East, and with Iraq's new idea of using oil as a political weapon, the strengthening of OPEC and the fact there is no clear option to follow Chavez," Washington has taken a hands-off position to avoid any interruption of its oil supply, said Georgetown University professor Francisco Nieto. The United States continues to seek "a preservation and strengthening of those economic and energy relations as the Venezuelans themselves work their way through their problems," a senior White House official said, noting that Caracas never stopped shipping oil to the United States, even during the worst days of the oil embargo of the 1970s. Still, US policy toward Venezuela has taken a new and significant turn, the State Department official stressed. "No longer (do we) just evaluate Chavez based on what he does; his words are very important as well." Chavez "started bumping up against some of ... our core values," undermining the media and free press, which is "vital," the State Department official added. "They've been under attack down there." Chavez promised a leftist revolution when he came to power in 1998, and cast himself as an anti-US leader while keeping the United States as the country's main economic client. Yet in October, Chavez -- the lone significant ally Cuban President Fidel Castro has in the Americas, and who has paid visits to Iraq and Libya -- irked the United States by accusing it publicly of killing innocent children during bombing raids in Afghanistan. The United States has no intention of intervening in domestic Venezuelan affairs, the State Department official stressed, aiming only to "cool off some of the confrontation" between Chavez and his opposition by seeking assistance from within the region, particularly from the leaders of Mexico and Brazil. The hemispheric democratic charter, which establishes a plan to deal with democracies at risk, is the "mechanism" in which to do so, the State official said, Venezuela must [ostensibly] adhere to respect for a free press, labor rights and political activity as set out in the democratic charter of the Washington-based Organization of American States, the White House official concurred. "Where the political activity in the country is carried out in accordance with the new hemispheric OAS democratic charter that was approved in Lima (in September), that's the framework in which Venezuelans are attempting to sort out their political differences," he said. "Anything other than that will not be acceptable, not only to US but to all the members of the Inter American System." Chavez "has definitely isolated himself more and more. We've noticed that because there are fewer and fewer people that we can go to and do business with" in his govenment, the State Department official said. "It's really difficult to see him holding on until February 2007. I think his term ends without his trying to seek some sort of modus vivendi with the opposition," the State Department official said. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Barry Stoller http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProletarianNews --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9617B Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
