Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said on Friday, at the end of a visit to the US for the UN General Assembly packed with diplomatic fireworks, that he has proof of a US plan to invade his country.
"I have evidence that there are plans to invade Venezuela," the left-wing leader, an outspoken critic of the US administration, told ABC television in an interview.
Since arriving in New York on Thursday morning, Chavez has said the US is a "terrorist state" and called for the UN headquarters to be moved to another country.
The US has in turn taken Venezuela off its list of countries deemed to be cooperating in the campaign against the drugs trade.
Amid mounting rancor, the Venezuelan leader has in the past accused the US of having plans to assassinate him -- a move denied by the US administration.
But the US authorities were embarrassed recently after a conservative evangelist, Pat Robertson, called for the US to have Chavez killed.
Washington has said that Chavez, a close ally of Cuba's communist leader Fidel Castro, was a destabilizing influence in Latin America.
In the television interview, Chavez said that since US President George W. Bush came to power in January, 2001, "Venezuela has been subjected to permanent aggression against us and against me personally."
Chavez has threatened to cut off oil supplies to the US. But he said that for the moment, the supplies are safe. Venezuela is the fourth-biggest oil source for the US. "We have no plans to alter in any way the supply of oil to the United States," he said.
He highlighted how Venezuela was donating gasoline, through its state-owned Citgo stations, at a cut rate or free in American areas hurt by Hurricane Katrina.
Citgo has also put up hundreds of people on the grounds of a refinery outside New Orleans, he said.
"You hit me on one cheek, and I'll try to respond by helping you, I don't care. We're not doing this for the administration. We're doing it for the people of the United States. So that's how I respond," Chavez told ABC.
"Today or tomorrow, a Venezuelan ship with 300,000 barrels of gasoline should be arriving. It's the first of four or five additional ships that we have sent to help," he said.
"I have friends throughout the entire world, kings, princes, presidents, prime ministers," Chavez said. "The only country, the only administration with whom we don't have good relations on the face of the Earth is the administration of Mr. Bush."
The Venezuelan leader has made several attacks on the US at the UN world summit in New York this week, calling the US a "terrorist" state for its war in Iraq and for harboring Luis Posada Carriles, whom Venezuela wants to try for a 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner, killing everyone aboard.
"It is a terrorist state. It is a government that violates all rules and behaves shamelessly," he said on Thursday.
Chavez said that a 2002 coup, in which he was removed from power for two days, was the Bush administration's fault.
"This administration has truly broken with all protocols of democracy and respect for people. The coup d'etat against Venezuela was manufactured in Washington. My death was ordered. And it was ordered recently," he told ABC.
Venezuela was among countries that objected to the main document for the UN world summit.
Venezuela's Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez asked to speak just as world leaders were to endorse a plan for UN reform. He said not enough countries had been involved in the process. Cuba also joined the attack.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was