Posted on 12/05/2006 4:41:01 PM PST by mylife
US extends cooperation post Hugo's re-election
Press Trust of India
Washington, December 5, 2006
The United States extended an offer of cooperation to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez after the vituperatively anti-American leftist won reelection.
"President Chavez has been re-elected for another term in office, and we would hope that we could have a positive, constructive relationship with the government of Venezuela," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said on Monday.
"We, ourselves, will look for opportunities to work closely with the Venezuelan government," McCormack said.
He noted that there had been "well reported frictions on some issues" with Chavez, who in a victory speech on Monday night claimed his re-election heralded a socialist revolution and taunted President George W Bush as "the devil who wants to dominate the world."
"From our standpoint, there don't have to be any frictions," McCormack continued.
"Obviously, when you see some of the rhetoric that comes out, that might make things a little bit more difficult in terms of the relationship, but that doesn't preclude our being able to work together, at least from our perspective," he said.
McCormack pointed to past cooperation with Caracas, notably in combating drug traffickers, and said that "we have, despite a couple of rough patches, actually been able to work pretty effectively" with the Chavez government.
"We would like to be able to work with Venezuela across a full spectrum of various issues," he said.
A former paratrooper who once led a failed military coup, Chavez, 52, vowed to use Venezuela's oil wealth to boost social programmes that have kept him popular among the millions of impoverished Venezuelans.
What krap from our ambassador. We need this like a hole in the head.
In other words, the sniper teams are en route.
Which ones, ours or theirs?
Bush: "YEAH, Yeah, yeah, WHATever... just fill'er up MonkeyBoy!"
Oh My! Thats Funny!
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