Posted on 11/28/2005 9:07:34 PM PST by SmithL
CARACAS -- A congressional delegation led by Rep. Henry Hyde arrived on Monday in Venezuela, but was not permitted to leave the plane at the country's main airport and left abruptly, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy said.
The president of the airport, however, denied the accusation, saying the U.S. ambassador met the plane at the airport, entered it briefly, and then the craft departed.
The delegation on the plane had been slated to meet with Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel and other government officials, and waited for roughly one hour before departing, Brian Penn, the embassy spokesman, told local Globovision television.
"Government officials did not allow them off the plane, and that's the cause of the canceled visit," Penn said without elaborating.
The group of six U.S. lawmakers led by Hyde, an Illinois Republican who chairs the House International Relations Committee, was harassed by customs officials for two hours before refused entry to Venezuela, according to Hyde's office.
"The delegation members expressed their profound disappointment in the Venezuelan government's capricious and unexplained decision,"
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Why do Americans always think that if we just act nice and try to reason with thugs, they will return the feelings?
It never ceases to amaze me.
I'm talking about Manuel Noriega. Chavez, are you listening?
We should do what we did to daniel ortega.
May I suggest next time they use a different "transport"?
I suggest an "Arclight" style payload, and if the delegation is refused, we can show our displeasure over Chavez residence!
No, that would be imperialistic. Salvadore Allende provides a better model - and a better result.
ping
Well I was refering to how we got ortega to quit. That was when the CIA actually did work. Well If I remember correctly I think they sub contracted this "motivational program" out to another government.
Send Democrats next time. I hear they're all bosom buddies over there.
The loser in that episode is clearly Chavez.
It shows the (rapidly) increasingly totalitarian characteristics of the Chavez regime; and the incident is of enough diplomatic stature to get governmental and public attention throughout the Western world and Southern Hemisphere.
It'll get Chavez some loud cheers from the Marxists and other leftists - but in essence was very, very stupid. At this point, we can soon expect a sympathetic (and Chavez-welcomed) visit from Senators Dodd and Kerry, putting things aright as they did with Daniel Ortega in Nicaragua.
Take him out.
Oh, Chavez is such a tough guy.
Yeah, a real tough guy.
He can't even talk with a delegation from the U.S.
I guess he thinks this will make him look real macho.
What a putz.
Interesting. I wonder if this was an attempt to discuss Hugo's arms purchase from Spain?
Hugo is feeling like the big man now that he got Spain to kick us in the teeth and go ahead with the sale, and I think we're going to see some strutting going on from the little twerp.
Bumpity bump. More people should read this...
Maybe they were trying to cut "gas for the masses" deals of their own?
Not Henry Hyde!
That's good. I'll take your word for it.
He's a real strut monkey.
He thinks hes' on a roll now but that will change.
Actually, the other thing that is interesting about this is how closely Chavez follows US politics. He knows who are his friends in Congress, and he also knows who is not. I would suspect that Hyde and the others were making this trip at the behest of Bush or the State Dept., in any case, because things have been heating up with Chavez.
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