“We Are Not A Danger To The United States”
Translation: “Please, Americans, vote for Obama so I can continue to get away with shit, especially working against your interests.”
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez hopes prickly relations with the United States will improve when his archfoe George W. Bush leaves the Oval Office in January, the socialist leader said on Wednesday.
Chavez, who rejects traditional U.S. influence in Latin America and has called the U.S. president ‘the devil,’ denied OPEC-member Venezuela represented a danger to Washington.
“Whoever the next president is and whatever party they are from, we aspire, we are anxious, that 2009 start with a new level of relations,” Chavez said from an oilfield close to the Orinoco River.
In the past, Chavez has said a victory for Republican presidential candidate John McCain in the November election could worsen relations between the two countries.
All candidates are wary of the outspoken critic of U.S foreign policy, although Democrat Barack Obama has said he could meet with him.
“We are not a danger to the United States, for the love of God, completely the opposite,” Chavez said.
The United States accuses Chavez of being soft on cocaine traffickers and of having ties to Marxist guerrillas in neighboring Colombia whom Washington classifies as terrorists.
It considers him a negative influence in Latin America, where he spends cash freely from an oil bonanza on aid projects and regional institutions that exclude the United States.
But Venezuela is one of the United States’ top crude suppliers and trade between the two countries hit a record $50 billion last year. The Venezuelan-American chamber of commerce says it hopes to exceed that number in 2008.
Venezuela, with its love of baseball and shopping malls, is one of the most Americanized corners of Latin America, but relations have deteriorated since a brief 2002 coup against Chavez that Washington initially welcomed.
In recent weeks, Chavez has accused the United States of fomenting separatist movements from Tibet to Bolivia.
Some U.S. lawmakers are lobbying to have Venezuela placed on a list of countries that support terrorism because of good relations with Iran and accused links to Colombian guerrillas.
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That dude reminds me of Bluto on the Popeye cartoons. I see relations improving drastically when a carrier battle group shows up off of his coast. Funny how that works.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:01 pmNiall Ferguson on Why the World Needs McCain (vid clip): he’s credible as a “bomb Iran-er” (or Chavez-stomper, for that matter), hence has leverage. Hillary and Oblabla, not so much.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:06 pmWhy the hell would he say that if he wasn’t planning anything. He could have said he looks forward to improved US relations, but he automatically goes to point out he’s not a threat?
I think we should look into this a little more.
May 14th, 2008 at 2:18 pmThat picture of the fool Carter makes me think of what Obama will be doing when he hits 60. Carter has sucked up to terrorist for 4 decades. I can see Obama doing the exact same thing. Old man Obama standing up for the communists and Muslims terror states, while selling out America. Just like Jimmy Carter.
May 14th, 2008 at 3:14 pm