Venezuela President Hugo Chavez, right, sings his nation's

national anthem, as Colombia President Alvaro Uribe follows

along, at a meeting in Caracas on April 14.

El Universal, Venezuela

Chavez to Obama: 'Go Wipe Your Ass'!

"The purpose of the trip by the Foreign Ministry envoy was to explore the possibility that Chavez and Obama could meet during the upcoming Fifth Summit of the Americas. … If even [Cuban leader] Raul Castro and [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad have moderated their language to smooth the way for a possible dialogue with Obama, couldn’t Chavez get a hold of his verbal petulance?"

By Adolfo P. Salgueiro

Translated Miguel Gutierrez and Liz Essary

March 8, 2009

Venezuela - El Universal - Original Article (Spanish)

This columnist has information (unconfirmed) that a few days ago, Temir Porras, director of Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro's office, traveled to Washington, where in coordination with our embassy and Congressman William Delahunt (representative from Massachusetts and a friend of Chavez), was able to meet important members of the U.S. Congress, including Delahunt, who sits on the House Foreign Relations Committee, and Senators who sit on the Senate's equivalent committee [the Senate Foreign Relations Committee], including its chairman, John Kerry (presidential candidate in 2004), Richard Lugar, Christopher Dodd, etc.

The purpose of the trip was to explore the possibility that Chavez and Obama could meet during the upcoming Fifth Summit of the Americas to be held in Trinidad in mid-April [15-17], or, even more ambitiously, in the Oval Office at the White House in Washington.

The same sources indicate that Porras' inquiries were met with some approval because it seems to have been handled well and because it's obvious to all that an improvement in bilateral relations would be convenient for both governments. After all, the U.S. is our main source of business and technology, in addition to being the destination of 70 percent of our oil exports - and our only full-paying customer. 

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

Some commented that the likelihood of a presidential meeting would soon be known and that such a meeting could interest Obama, who might be willing to assume a pragmatic attitude to ensure the flow of oil from less-than-friendly sources like Venezuela - even as the U.S. seeks ways to reduce such dependence as he promised to do during the election campaign. 

That’s where things stood when the State Department published its report on human rights, which points out what we all know: Venezuela has serious deficiencies in the fields of justice, penitentiaries, etc. It’s so ironic that the United States is the one assuming the role of seeing the mote in the eye of another - and not the beam in its own eye (abuse at the Abu Ghraib prison, Guantanamo, clandestine flights with prisoners of war, etc.)

SEE ALSO ON THIS:

El Universal, Venezuela: Of Obama and Chavez: 'Unconditional' Meetings and 'Equal' Treatment

El Caribe, Dominican Republic: Obama's Task at Summit of the Americas: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

Gazeta, Russia: Castro and Chavez Split Over Obama

Semana, Colombia: Around the World, Politicians Have Learned from Nixon

Tal Cual, Venezuela: Crimes of Hugo Chavez Worse than Richard Nixon's

But since our leader is how he is, he quickly told the “little Black guy” to “go wipe your ass.” We wonder then, what is the consistency between Porras’ next step into the diplomatic lobby, while simultaneously and intemperately inviting the president of the United States to “go wipe your ass,” as a consequence of a bureaucratic report that was obviously prepared almost entirely during the Bush Administration.

If even [Cuban leader] Raul Castro and [Iranian President] Ahmadinejad have moderated their language to smooth the way for a possible dialogue with Obama, couldn’t Chavez get a hold of his verbal petulance? We think that in the primitive, military mind of our tropical Jupiter, there appears to be the lack of an enemy to blame during the tough times that lie ahead.

CLICK HERE FOR SPANISH VERSION

[Posted by WORLDMEETS.US April 14, 4:29pm]