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http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-fg-expel12-2008sep12,0,3831144.story
From the Los Angeles Times
[size=14pt]Venezuela expels U.S. ambassador[/size]
President Hugo Chavez says he's acting in solidarity with Bolivia, which ordered the U.S. envoy there to leave. The move is another setback in the region for Washington.
By Patrick J. McDonnell and Chris Kraul
Los Angeles Times Staff Writers

September 12, 2008

BUENOS AIRES — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Thursday that he was expelling the U.S. ambassador in the latest escalation of tensions between Washington and Latin American leftists.

The move came a day after Bolivian President Evo Morales, a close Chavez ally, accused the U.S. envoy in his country of fostering divisions and ordered him to leave.

On Thursday, chaos worsened in Bolivia as clashes between government sympathizers and opponents in a remote province left at least eight dead and dozens injured. And Washington retaliated for the expulsion of Ambassador Philip S. Goldberg by telling Bolivia's ambassador, Gustavo Guzman, to leave.

In a speech laced with obscenities directed at the United States, Chavez told a cheering crowd that he acted in solidarity with Morales. Earlier, he said his country would come to Morales' aid if "Yankee stooges" tried to oust him.

Chavez and the Bush administration have been bitter rivals for years. Although this latest step signals a further deterioration, it is not clear how the expulsions will affect the region's political and economic stability.

Washington will continue to have diplomatic relations with Venezuela and Bolivia, at least for now. And Venezuela remains a major source of oil for the U.S.

On Thursday, Chavez renewed threats to cut off supplies should Washington launch "some aggression" against Venezuela, but stopped well short of stopping sales.

Still, expulsions of U.S. ambassadors are relatively rare and the moves shocked the region.

"This is a highly symbolic gesture," said Eduardo Gamarra, a professor at Florida International University in Miami. "And they're doing it at a time when no one in Washington is paying much attention to Latin America."

For years, the administration has sought to play down suggestions that an anti-U.S. leftist bloc was forming in Latin America while the White House was preoccupied in the Middle East. U.S. officials have contended that Washington would be making a mistake to overreact to Chavez.

But Morales and Chavez have been eager to prove that they pose a serious regional challenge. This week, the Venezuelans moved a step further by allowing Russian long-range bombers to visit a base, suggesting that greater military contacts might be ahead.

Venezuela and Bolivia have also reached out to Iran, angering Washington.

Chavez has found allies in Morales and Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa. But most governments in the region, including left-leaning administrations in Brazil and Argentina, have tried to maintain cordial relations with both Venezuela and the U.S.

The expulsion of Patrick Duddy after a year in Venezuela appeared to have little to do with his public actions. The ambassador has kept a low profile compared with his predecessor, William Brownfield, who sometimes responded to Chavez's anti-U.S. invective.

Chavez threatened to eject the ambassador a week ago in response to criticism from White House drug czar John P. Walters that his country wasn't doing enough to stop the flow of illegal drugs. Earlier, Chavez denounced a plot against him that he said was abetted by the United States, an allegation Washington denies.

Chavez said he also was recalling Caracas' ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, until "there's a new government in the United States."

Throughout Latin America, Chavez has positioned himself as the prime opponent to "Yankee imperialism," a phrase he often invokes.

"If we have to create one Vietnam, two Vietnams, three Vietnams, here we are ready," Chavez said Thursday, echoing a phrase of Che Guevara, the late revolutionary leader. "Because we are not going to take hope away from our people."

In Bolivia, threats against gas pipelines have forced officials to restrict exports to giant neighbors Brazil and Argentina in the last two days. The government has shipped additional soldiers to energy fields to protect the pipelines.

U.S. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said in Washington that Bolivia's decision to expel Goldberg "will prejudice the interests of both countries, undermine the ongoing fight against drug trafficking and will have serious regional implications."

Bolivia is the world's third-largest producer of coca leaf, the raw material in cocaine, and a major recipient of U.S. anti-drug aid. But Morales rose to national prominence as president of a coca growers federation, a post he still holds, and has often been at odds with U.S.-backed anti-drug efforts.

The president frequently accused the ambassador of undermining his government. Morales was apparently incensed when Goldberg met recently with the governors of two provinces who oppose him.

Various South American nations, including Brazil, pledged support for Morales' government and offered help if needed to mediate the crisis.

Morales took office in 2006 amid hopes for national reconciliation in a country long riven by political, ethnic and regional differences. He was the first Indian president in a nation where much of the population is of indigenous ancestry.

But his socialist policies and rhetorical flourishes soon caused discontent in the eastern lowlands, home to much of the nation's agricultural and energy wealth. He accused "oligarchs" of seeking to break away from Bolivia.

Four lowland states voted this year for autonomy in a referendum Morales called treasonous and illegal. A fifth state, Chuquisaca, in the central highlands, has joined the four lowland provinces in opposition to Morales, whose base of support is in the western altiplano.

Venezuela Joins Bolivia in Expelling U.S. Ambassador

By Juan Forero
Washington Post Foreign Service
Friday, September 12, 2008; A09

BOGOTA, Colombia, Sept. 11 -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told a throng of supporters Thursday that he is giving U.S. Ambassador Patrick Duddy 72 hours to leave the oil-rich country.

The populist leader said he issued the order in solidarity with his close ally in Bolivia, President Evo Morales, who on Wednesday ordered the expulsion of the U.S. ambassador in La Paz after accusing him of fomenting unrest. The United States said it has nothing to do with a rising tide of violent anti-government protests in Bolivia, which led to the deaths of at least eight demonstrators on Thursday.

Continue reading

Report: Russia sends two strategic bombers to Venezuela

Two Russian strategic bombers landed today in Venezuela, according to the Associated Press, which cites Russia's Interfax news agency as its source.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a bitter foe of Washington, has invited the Kremlin to use his country's ports and airfields. Earlier this week, a Russian official told reporters that the decision to send ships and bombers preceded the war with Georgia that has frayed his country's ties with the West.

"This deployment had been planned in advance, and it's unrelated to the current political situation and the developments in the Caucasus," Russia's Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko said Monday, the Associated Press reports.

Source: http://blogs.usatoday.com/ondeadline/2008/09/report-russia-s.html

This is what you get when the accursed (Republican neocons) have influence on American power. They cause trouble everywhere and taunt allies and enemies alike.

America will soon have more than it can chew. At the moment America has palavar with Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran etc.
I can only remember the above, maybe there's more. This Bushman like war too much o.

I think its about time the entire world gang up against the evil "neo-con empire" George Bush is building.


How can one country be responsible for so much chaos? Time for the Gop to go.

TopBanana:

America will soon have more than it can chew. At the moment America has palavar with Russia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Iraq, Afghanistan, North Korea, Iran etc.
I can only remember the above, maybe there's more. This Bushman like war too much o.

I think its about time the entire world gang up against the evil "neo-con empire" George Bush is building.


How can one country be responsible for so much chaos? Time for the Gop to go.

Precisely! More countries are definitely on the list.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, Russian toddlers would do a better job running US foreign policy than the George W. Bush White House.

russian foreign policy is actually more isolationist and agressive than that of the US.

bawomolo:

russian foreign policy is actually more isolationist and agressive than that of the US.

The emphasis on "toddlers", not "Russian".

Democracy is not to everyone's taste - especially when democracy produces a socialist government.

This is why I always dismiss the democracy argument out of hand because there are double standards in it.

Bolivia should just do itself a favour and split up. The chasm between right-wing conservatism and left-wing socialism is too wide to breach in that country. Add to that the racial nature of the split and you have a tinderbox ready to burn. We saw the same thing in Ukraine after the Orange revolution. The fact is that people must respect democracy and let Bolivia sort out its own problems. Evo Morales should also moderate his left wing views a bit so that the white minority can tolerate him like they do President Lula of Brazil.

VIVA la Chavez. Go on dig your own little grave. Fidel Castro failed with Russia's help. When are people like Chavez realise that the US is just so powerful to intimidated by little ants like Venezuela, Cuba etc, supported by a cowardly bully called Russia.

Mpele:

VIVA la Chavez. Go on dig your own little grave. Fidel Castro failed with Russia's help. When are people like Chavez realise that the US is just so powerful to intimidated by little ants like Venezuela, Cuba etc, supported by a cowardly bully called Russia.

Another political neophyte exposing his crass ignorance!

@ RitchyBlack.

Ok Mr Political commentator lets hear your correct opinion. Don't you know that everybody is entitled to his pr her opinion. Thats why you're stuck in Somalia.

Mpele:

@ RitchyBlack.

Ok Mr Political commentator lets hear your correct opinion. Don't you know that everybody is entitled to his pr her opinion. Thats why you're stuck in Somalia.

No vex na. I love all peoples, including the Somalis