Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez greets workers. The president has taken control of 39 oil service firms.
Originally uploaded by Pan-African News Wire File Photos
03:28 Mecca time, 00:28 GMT
Chavez rejects new US ambassador
Hugo Chavez asked Obama to "look for another candidate" as US envoy to Caracas
Hugo Chavez, the Venezuelan president, has said he will not allow the
newly-nominated US envoy to take up his post in Caracas, following
comments over Venezuela's alleged links with Colombian rebels.
He said Barack Obama, the US president, should "look for another
candidate" to replace Larry Palmer, whose nomination as ambassador to Venezuela is pending confirmation by the senate.
"How can you think I'd accept this gentleman coming here?" Chavez said on Sunday in his weekly "Alo Presidente" radio and television show.
"You'd best withdraw him, Obama. Don't insist, I'm asking you."
Palmer last month voiced concern about Cuba's growing influence in the Venezuelan military, which, according to him was "considerably low" in morale and professionalism.
In written answers during a confirmation hearing, Palmer also said
there were "clear ties" between leftist Colombian rebels and Chavez's
government.
On Thursday the Venezuelan foreign ministry protested Palmer's
statements as "interference and interventionism" and asked the United
States for an explanation before he was confirmed in his post.
"[Palmer] disqualified himself by breaking all the rules of diplomacy.
He messed with all of us. He can't come here as ambassador," Chavez
said.
"The best thing the United States government can do is to look for
another candidate [for ambassador to Venezuela]."
Chavez denies he gives haven to the rebels and he severed diplomatic
relations with Colombia on July 22 over allegations that Venezuela is
ignoring the presence of rebel camps inside the country.
Palmer, who has served as ambassador in Honduras and charge d'affaires in Ecuador, was picked to try to manage the US' difficult relationship with Venezuela.
Mending ties
Meanwhile, Chavez will meet Juan Manuel Santos, the new Colombian
president, in Bogota, on Tuesday for talks to try to end a diplomatic
rift.
Santos was inaugurated as the Colombian president on Saturday and
immediately offered to talk with Chavez in hopes of mending
Colombia-Venezuela ties.
"We had a frank and direct dialogue, with both our countries' aim to
restore relations within a framework of transparency," Maria Angela
Holguin, the Colombian foreign minister, said on Sunday.
Chavez, who sent his foreign minster Nicolas Maduro to the swearing-in ceremony, said he was willing to "turn the page" and work with Santos, even offering to go to Bogota if necessary.
Venezuela broke off ties with Colombia last month in the latest swing
in their on-again, off-again relationship.
Call to disarm
Earlier Chavez called on Colombian rebels to lay down arms and warned Santos' government to avoid accusations his country was helping the guerrilla movement.
Santos' predecessor Alvaro Uribe while in office had accused Chavez's
government of sheltering Colombian rebels.
Chavez tried to deflect the accusations by calling on them to give up
their decades-old armed struggle and seek a negotiated solution.
"The guerrillas should come out in favour of peace. They should
release all their hostages," he said during his television show. "They
have no future by staying armed."
"Furthermore they have become an excuse for the [US] empire to
intervene in Colombia and threaten Venezuela from there," he added, a
reference to the US military presence in Colombia.
Source: Agencies
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