Chavez: Interested in Democracy!

Chavez contacted US over Honduras: official

Jul 10, 2009
AFP


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has contacted the US State Department's point man on Latin America to discuss the crisis in Honduras, US officials confirmed.

Chavez called Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas Shannon late Thursday "to discuss the current situation in Honduras and the ongoing negotiations mediated by Costa Rica's President Oscar Arias," the State Department said in a statement.

The call came in the midst of San Jose-brokered talks between aides of ousted President Manuel Zelaya and interim Honduran leader Roberto Micheletti.

The talks ended late Friday with no breakthrough.

In a sign of the pair's mutual hostility, the rival Honduran leaders never met face-to-face in a first session Thursday, preferring to speak to Arias separately before flying out of the country the same day.

Chavez said Friday that the negotiations, which are backed by Washington, are a "big mistake that come from the north."

The firebrand leftist leader, a top Zelaya supporter, warned that Arias receiving Micheletti amounted to a "trap" that was "very dangerous for democracy."

But State Department spokesman PJ Crowley countered that Chavez's statement was "premature."

"It's unclear what President Chavez thinks he's for and against. I believe at various times the Venezuelan government has been supportive of a process that would lead to President Zelaya's return," Crowley said.

"I believe that he has actually had some complimentary things to say previously about the role that President Arias might play."

Venezuela and the United States have moved to improve an often contentious relationship, following a summit of the Americas in April in Trinidad, where Chavez and US President Barack Obama met for the first time in their official capacities.

The United States returned its ambassador to Venezuela earlier this month, restoring diplomatic ties that were ruptured nine months ago with his expulsion in a row with Chavez.

The two countries earlier agreed to the return of their respective ambassadors, patching up a rift that opened September 12 when Venezuela declared US Ambassador Patrick Duddy a "persona non grata" and gave him 72 hours to leave the country.