[Mb-civic] CBC News - TIT FOR TAT: U.S. AND VENEZUELA TRADE EXPULSIONS AND SLURS

Sat Feb 4 07:53:58 PST 2006

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TIT FOR TAT: U.S. AND VENEZUELA TRADE EXPULSIONS AND SLURS
WebPosted Fri Feb  3 16:44:58 2006

---In a new low for U.S.-Venezuelan relations, populist president Hugo
Chavez has ordered a U.S. naval attaché out of the South American
country, accusing him of talking up the idea of a military coup.

Meanwhile, U.S. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld compared Chavez's rise
to Hitler's.

With Navy Cmdr. John Correa under an expulsion order in Caracas, the Bush
administration responded on Friday by giving a Venezuelan diplomat, Jenny
Figueredo Frias, 72 hours to leave the U.S.

In a speech on Thursday, Chavez accused Correa of encouraging Venezuelan
military officers to consider overthrowing his government, and of passing
secret information from such officers to the Pentagon.

It was unclear how seriously to take the charges. Chavez has often
accused the Americans of plotting against him. But encouraging coups
against leftist regimes has been a staple of U.S. policy in Latin
America. Chavez survived an attempted coup in 2002.

FROM APRIL 15, 2002: Oil prices rise as Venezuela coup fizzles

Also on Thursday, Rumsfeld shared his thoughts about the Venezuelan
leader with reporters in Washington.

"We've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money," he said. "He's a
person who was elected legally, just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally,
and then consolidated power, and now is, of course, working closely with
Fidel Castro and Mr. [Evo] Morales and others. It concerns
me."

FROM NOV. 23, 2005: Cheap oil from Chavez arrives in U.S

Chavez was to be in Cuba on Friday to meet with Castro and receive an
award. He has styled himself a leader of the continent's recent crop of
left-leaning regimes, including that of Bolivia's Morales, that country's
first indigenous president.