Posted on 10/02/2002 2:25:52 PM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - A Venezuelan parliament deputy and close political ally of leftist President Hugo Chavez accused the U.S. government on Wednesday of refusing him an entry visa because of his alleged links with international subversive groups.
Tarek William Saab, who is vice president of the foreign policy commission of Venezuela's National Assembly, told local television he was refused a visa because a State Department report identified him as "an individual linked to international subversion."
Saab, who is of Lebanese origin, said he did not know the details of the report, but the Caracas daily El Nacional said it associated him with "Middle East terrorist groups."
The U.S. Embassy in Caracas declined to comment. "We never talk about visa matters," a spokesman told Reuters.
Saab, a prominent member of Chavez's ruling Fifth Republic Movement party who sometimes acts as the government's foreign policy spokesman, condemned the allegations against him as infamy.
"It's an unfriendly gesture against a Venezuelan institution like the parliament," he told Globovision.
The U.S. government has criticized Chavez, a former paratrooper who was elected in 1998 and survived a brief coup in April this year, for seeking closer ties with anti-U.S. states like Iraq, Libya and communist Cuba.
The U.S. refusal to grant a visa to Saab came as President Bush was trying to gather support at home and abroad for a military attack against Iraq.
Chavez, who irritated Washington in 2001 by questioning the U.S. anti-terrorism war in Afghanistan, visited Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in Baghdad in 2000, drawing a public rebuke from the U.S. government.
"They've got me in some black list photo because I embraced Saddam Hussein and shook his hand," the outspoken Venezuelan leader said in remarks to local industry executives on Tuesday.
Chavez has always defended his visit to Iraq as routine consultations between members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.
Saab, who was allowed to visit the United States several times in 2000 and 2001, said Venezuela's parliament and foreign ministry were pressing Washington to grant him a visa again.
In office, Col. Hugo Chavez threw out the constitution and sent armed brigades to attack his civic opposition. He began aiding the FARC terrorists trying to subvert Colombia. Former Reagan National Security Council official Constantine Menges warned in 1998 and 1999 that Mr. Chavez would be an ally of Fidel Castro as well as other state sponsors of terrorism such as Iran and Iraq. That has happened. Mr. Maisto saw no such problem.
Today Col. Chavez provides a $2 billion petroleum subsidy to Fidel Castro and allies his government with states like Iran, Iraq and communist China. Mr. da Silva calls Col. Chavez "an example to emulate." Col. Chavez calls Mr. da Silva "a great man," and predicts: "The left is going to win in Brazil. Changes are coming step by step on this continent. I think about it day and night."
Robert Novak reports that since arriving at the Rice NSC, Mr. Maisto has "pressed for normalization with communist Cuba" and has worked to maintain the Clinton-era guidelines that impede a stronger U.S. policy against Colombian terrorist groups. The Washington-based Center for Security Policy, directed by former Pentagon official Frank Gaffney Jr., describes Mr. Maisto as "a career Foreign Service officer known for his soft line on narco-terrorism and other security issues," and says he is "a major roadblock to realization of the President's agenda."
Has Mr. Maisto provided President George W. Bush the advice and help he deserved as the United States seeks to preserve political democracy and avoid what Mr. Menges recently called the possibility of a "nuclear armed axis of evil in the Americas" including Mr. Castro, Mr. Chavez and a radical da Silva regime in Brazil? We will know next month.***
Chavez: Lula da Silva positive change for South America (Castro-da Silva-Chavez axis)***But Chavez said Lula's lead in the race signaled that positive changes were sweeping South America - changes leading the region away from free market reforms that the Venezuelan president blames for increasing the gap between rich and poor. Another sign was that indigenous representatives grabbed an unprecedented 35 of 157 seats in recent Bolivian congressional elections, Chavez said. Such developments have given him confidence that movements like his own self-styled leftist "revolution" would "emerge not only in this continent but in the whole world," he added. The president spoke moments before leaving to participate in the World Summit in Johannesburg, South Africa. Chavez is an outspoken critic of unchecked capitalism and a fervent admirer of Latin American leftists like Cuban President Fidel Castro. ***
Cyanide found in Colombian corpse - FARC suspected of chemical warfare*** Survivors of the attack in San Adolfo, 230 miles south of Bogota, said rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, tossed bombs into the police compound that sent dark, gray smoke into their bunker and tunnels. "They were suffocating -- they couldn't breathe and felt their lungs were going to explode. They were immediately blinded by the gas," police Col. Francisco Henry Caicedo, citing survivors' reports, said in an interview days after the attack. On Friday, the Colombian prosecutor's office issued arrest warrants for the FARC leadership for "using illegal warfare methods in utilizing chemical weapons," a spokeswoman for the office told the Associated Press. Those charged include the top leader of the FARC, Manuel "Sureshot" Marulanda. If poisonous gas were used, it would be the first such known case in Colombia's 38-year civil war, which pits the U.S.-backed military and an outlawed paramilitary group against the FARC and another rebel army.***
Blocking a new axis of evil*** A new terrorist and nuclear weapons/ballistic missile threat may well come from an axis including Cuba's Fidel Castro, the Chavez regime in Venezuela and a newly elected radical president of Brazil, all with links to Iraq, Iran and China. Visiting Iran last year. Mr. Castro said: "Iran and Cuba can bring America to its knees," while Chavez expressed his admiration for Saddam Hussein during a visit to Iraq. The new axis is still preventable, but if the pro-Castro candidate is elected president of Brazil, the results could include a radical regime in Brazil re-establishing its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programs, developing close links to state sponsors of terrorism such as Cuba, Iraq and Iran, and participating in the destabilization of fragile neighboring democracies. This could lead to 300 million people in six countries coming under the control of radical anti-U.S. regimes and the possibility that thousands of newly indoctrinated terrorists might try to attack the United States from Latin America. Yet, the administration in Washington seems to be paying little attention.***
If the DNC could have scored a couple dozen more inmate votes last year, the number would be 580 million in seven countries.
So? This guys boss is an anti-American scumbag who wants to see this country destroyed every bit as much as Saddam, Osamma, and Arafat. He is the enemy. And this "deputy" is lucky we didn't just put the world of his misery.
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