Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has said that US President Barack Obama doesn’t seem to know much about what’s going on in Latin America.
Chavez made the remark in clips of an interview with Al-Jazeera shown late on Friday, also saying Brazil’s president came away from his recent talks with Obama not entirely pleased.
“What I read between the lines,” Chavez said, is that “Obama has for now — and that can be overcome — a great lack of knowledge about what’s really going on here” in Latin America.
The US embassy’s spokeswoman in Caracas, Robin Holzhauer, denied that claim.
“The US government has been actively engaged with Latin America for a long time and that trend is continuing under Obama,” she said.
BUSH LEGACY
The Venezuelan leader also said he believes Obama “is still reading the same garbage the advisers pass on to him.”
He told the pan-Arab TV channel that Obama seems to be taking advice from many of the same officials who worked under former US president George W. Bush.
MIXED SIGNALS
Despite tensions with the US, Chavez has at times expressed hope of better relations with Obama.
Chavez said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva “didn’t leave very pleased with Obama’s response” during their March 14 meeting in Washington.
Chavez had given Lula a green light to discuss Venezuela with Obama.
In Brazil, the presidential press office said it would not immediately comment on Chavez’s remarks.
Venezuela’s president is due to attend a summit in Trinidad next month, where Obama will also be among the leaders.
BACKLASH: The National Party quit its decades-long partnership with the Liberal Party after their election loss to center-left Labor, which won a historic third term Australia’s National Party has split from its conservative coalition partner of more than 60 years, the Liberal Party, citing policy differences over renewable energy and after a resounding loss at a national election this month. “Its time to have a break,” Nationals leader David Littleproud told reporters yesterday. The split shows the pressure on Australia’s conservative parties after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor party won a historic second term in the May 3 election, powered by a voter backlash against US President Donald Trump’s policies. Under the long-standing partnership in state and federal politics, the Liberal and National coalition had shared power
FRAUD ALLEGED: The leader of an opposition alliance made allegations of electoral irregularities and called for a protest in Tirana as European leaders are to meet Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama’s Socialist Party scored a large victory in parliamentary elections, securing him his fourth term, official results showed late on Tuesday. The Socialist Party won 52.1 percent of the vote on Sunday compared with 34.2 percent for an alliance of opposition parties led by his main rival Sali Berisha, according to results released by the Albanian Central Election Commission. Diaspora votes have yet to be counted, but according to initial results, Rama was also leading there. According to projections, the Socialist Party could have more lawmakers than in 2021 elections. At the time, it won 74 seats in the
A Croatian town has come up with a novel solution to solve the issue of working parents when there are no public childcare spaces available: pay grandparents to do it. Samobor, near the capital, Zagreb, has become the first in the country to run a “Grandmother-Grandfather Service,” which pays 360 euros (US$400) a month per child. The scheme allows grandparents to top up their pension, but the authorities also hope it will boost family ties and tackle social isolation as the population ages. “The benefits are multiple,” Samobor Mayor Petra Skrobot told reporters. “Pensions are rather low and for parents it is sometimes
CONTROVERSY: During the performance of Israel’s entrant Yuval Raphael’s song ‘New Day Will Rise,’ loud whistles were heard and two people tried to get on stage Austria’s JJ yesterday won the Eurovision Song Contest, with his operatic song Wasted Love triumphing at the world’s biggest live music television event. After votes from national juries around Europe and viewers from across the continent and beyond, JJ gave Austria its first victory since bearded drag performer Conchita Wurst’s 2014 triumph. After the nail-biting drama as the votes were revealed running into yesterday morning, Austria finished with 436 points, ahead of Israel — whose participation drew protests — on 357 and Estonia on 356. “Thank you to you, Europe, for making my dreams come true,” 24-year-old countertenor JJ, whose