Reply #96: Did a quick search Looks like his trip to Iraq is when things went sour

[54anickel]

http://www.cnn.com/WORLD/americas/9909/22/chavez/

'We are more confident about him'

Clinton's special envoy for Latin America, Kenneth MacKay, who attended the meeting between Chavez and Clinton, said that "we are more confident about him," although the jury was still out on the direction Venezuela was taking.

Analysts said the Clinton administration appears to be willing to give Chavez a chance.

"There's a change of sentiment in Washington because the guy is right about the level of poverty and misery in Venezuela," said Russell Crandall, a Latin American expert at Johns Hopkins University.



http://www.cnn.com/2000/WORLD/americas/08/30/brazil.chavez.vietnam.ap/

It was the first time a South American leader cautioned that Plan Colombia, launched Wednesday by Colombian President Andres Pastrana and U.S. President Bill Clinton, could degenerate into guerrilla warfare of continental dimensions.

Colombia shares a 1,400-mile (2,240 kilometer) border with Venezuela and a 960-mile (1,550-kilometer) border with Brazil.

"Some sectors in Colombia and other places may think that the conflict has a military solution. That is incorrect," he said. "Peace negotiations are the only way to achieve a solution."

Chavez said Venezuela was "the most affected country by the conflicts in Colombia after Colombia itself." That was because the wave of refugees who over the years have crossed the border into Venezuela from Colombia, he said.

snip>

Commenting on U.S. criticism of his recent visit to Iraq, Chavez said: "If U.S. officials can travel wherever they want to, why can't I?"

Chavez's visit to Iraq was part of a tour to member nations of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, whose heads of state he invited to a summit meeting next month in Caracas.