Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez surrounded by soldiers marches during the commemoration for the 10th anniversary of his failed military coup at a military museum in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, Feb. 4, 2002. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)
Posted on 02/06/2002 1:36:31 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States criticized leftist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's style of governing on Tuesday, expressing concern over the former coup leader's ideas on democracy, his fraternizing with U.S. enemies and his questioning of the war on terrorism.
Secretary of State Colin Powell made the criticisms in the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in response to a question about allegations oil-rich Venezuela is supporting leftist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia.
He said: "We have been concerned with some of the actions of Venezuelan President Chavez and his understanding of what a democratic system is all about," Powell said.
"We have also gone to some of our friends in the region to suggest to President Chavez that there are perhaps better ways to ... deal with the challenges his country is facing."
Since winning election in 1998, Chavez has introduced what he calls revolutionary policies to help the poor, including redistribution of land and increased state intervention in Latin America's fourth-largest economy.
He rejects unbridled free-market policies, but his opponents accuse him of trying to impose a Cuban-style leftist, authoritarian regime in the world's No. 4 oil exporter, whose main market is the United States.
Powell repeated U.S. criticism of Chavez's comments last year on President Bush's war on terrorism and his visits to countries such as Iraq and Cuba.
Chavez upset the Bush administration last November by calling for an end to the killing of civilians in Afghanistan. He has repeatedly emphasized the need for a global campaign against poverty, hunger and injustice.
STRANGEST COUNTRIES
Powell said: "He has not been supportive as he might have been, and he drops in on some of the strangest countries to visit. I'm not sure what inspiration he thinks he gets or what benefit he gets for the Venezuelan people dropping in and visiting some of these despotic regimes."
He said Chavez recognizes the disagreements with the United States as a "serious irritant" in relations but when the United States complains "he gets quite defensive."
Powell declined to comment on a leaked videotape showing Venezuelan military intelligence agents meeting Colombian leftist guerrillas from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which the United States calls a terrorist group.
Colombian Foreign Minister Guillermo Fernandez de Soto said last week his government was examining the video, which was released on Wednesday by four Venezuelan journalists who are outspoken critics of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
"I'd better wait until I get a complete analysis," Powell said.
On Monday, the anniversary of his failed 1992 coup, Chavez said Venezuela wanted to maintain good relations with the United States despite what he called some recent "scrapes".
"We are determined to protect, preserve and strengthen" these relations, he said, adding bilateral cooperation with Washington was continuing in oil and energy and in efforts to combat poverty, drug trafficking and terrorism.
______________ AP report: Powell Voices Scorn for Hugo Chavez by GEORGE GEDDA--[Excerpt] The secretary's remarks on Chavez's attitude toward terrorism apparently stem from an incident last October in which Chavez, in a television appearance, blasted the U.S. air war on Afghanistan as a "slaughter of innocents."
To drive home his point, he held up pictures of dead Afghan children, who he said were victims of the military campaign.
The Bush administration showed its displeasure with Chavez by briefly calling home the U.S. ambassador to Venezuela, Donna Hrinak. [End Excerpt]
Hugo Chavez is trouble.
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