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Chavez and allies accuse US of playing dirty politics in region
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and two Latin American allies accused the United States on Tuesday of conspiring to undermine the region's leftist governments.
- Reuters
- Published: 23:54 December 19, 2007
- Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez (left) with Brazil's President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (right) at the Mercosur Summit in Montevideo on Tuesday.
- Image Credit: AP
Montevideo: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and two Latin American allies accused the United States on Tuesday of conspiring to undermine the region's leftist governments.
The criticism followed a diplomatic firestorm set off by claims from a US prosecutor that Venezuela attempted to smuggle $800,000 (Dh2.93 million) in a suitcase to the election campaign of Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.
Chavez, Kirchner and Bolivian President Evo Morales rebuked the United States in separate public comments at a meeting of the South American trade bloc Mercosur in Uruguay's capital Montevideo.
Chavez accused Washington of meddling in Bolivian politics and seeking to destabilise the leftist government of Morales, who faces calls for autonomy by several opposition-controlled provinces.
Warning
"I have to blame the empire. They are trying to sabotage a legitimate democratic process," Chavez said, referring to the United States.
"We have to warn the empire that if they try to topple that legitimate government ... it will cause an earthquake that will shake the Americas."
Washington has repeatedly denied allegations it is seeking to influence politics in Bolivia. Morales has also made similar charges, prompting President George W. Bush's administration last month to publicly tell Bolivia to "knock it off."
On Tuesday, Morales reiterated accusations that the US ambassador in La Paz was involved in a conspiracy to damage his government. "It would be good if the United States would advise its ambassador to practice diplomacy, not politics," he said.
Fernandez, who took office on December 10, did not name the United States directly but suggested it was looking to exert its influence in the region through "dirty operations and dirty politics."
"Let's not be naive ... there are are going to be many more 'interferences' like those we're experiencing now, to put it in generous diplomatic terms," she said. It was the second public criticism of the US government in less than a week by Fernandez, a centre-left former senator and first lady who succeeded her husband, Nestor Kirchner.
Argentina angry
The Argentine Government had already expressed anger over an American court case alleging the Venezuelan government sought to secretly funnel $800,000 to her presidential campaign ahead of the October 28 election. The claims centred on a Venezuelan-American businessman who tried to enter Argentina with the money in a suitcase in August.
Argentine customs agents seized the suitcase and let the businessman carrying it, Guido Antonini Wilson, leave the country without charging him. Argentina later sought his extradition from the United States.
Last week, four men accused by US authorities of acting as Venezuelan agents were arrested in Miami on charges they attempted to pressure Antonini to conceal Caracas's role in the scandal.
Fernandez has called the allegations "garbage" and Argentine officials described them as part of a smear campaign aimed at driving a wedge between the South American allies.
Argentina's foreign minister was expected to lodge a formal complaint over the case with the US ambassador in Buenos Aires.
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