Chavez says US warships threaten Venezuela, Cuba
Tue Apr 18, 2006 06:43 PM ET
By Greg Brosnan
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez, who accuses
Washington of planning to invade Venezuela, said on Tuesday recent
deployment of U.S. warships in the Caribbean Sea threatened his country
and its ally Cuba.
Four U.S. warships, including an aircraft carrier, and 6,500 sailors,
are in a two-month deployment in the Caribbean Sea dubbed "Partnership
of the Americas" by the U.S. Navy.
"They are doing maneuvers right here," Chavez told a student meeting in
the country's west. "This is a threat, not just against us, against
Venezuela, against Cuba."
Chavez has repeatedly accused the United States of trying to oust him.
U.S. officials say the self-styled socialist revolutionary and friend of
Cuban President Fidel Castro threatens regional stability.
Chavez, who has created a civilian reserve to resist the assault he says
Washington is planning, has threatened to repel U.S. forces with arrows
coated with poison.
The United States, a leading buyer of oil from Venezuela, the world's
No. 5 exporter, has dismissed his invasion talk as a ridiculous
invention aimed at stirring up his supporters.
At least one warship has come as close to Venezuela as the Dutch island
of Aruba, about 15 miles off its coast.
The Florida-based U.S. Southern Command has said the operations, which
include visits to countries including Venezuela's neighboring U.S. ally
Colombia, focus on threats such as "narco-terrorism and human-trafficking."
http://go.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=11882004&src=rss/worldNews
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