As Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi finds himself increasingly isolated internationally, he still has at least a few friends far away.
Latin America’s most prominent leftists rallied early to his defense and have stayed there even as former friends, neighbors and countrymen have abandoned the embattled Libyan leader and urged his ouster.
Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez, Cuba’s Fidel Castro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega have been foremost in opposing US and NATO military involvement and in suggesting that reports of atrocities by Qaddafi’s troops are overblown or unproven.
“The United States is proposing a war over Libya because they want Libyan oil,” Chavez said on Sunday.
He praised the African Union (AU) for appointing a commission of leaders to travel to Libya for talks — an effort in line with his own peace proposals.
Chavez’s calls for mediation reflect both his affinity for Qaddafi and his ambition to be a global player, rallying nations against the US.
However, his critics say Chavez has no credibility to promote mediation because he has ignored abuses by Qaddafi’s regime. And his stance is also uncomfortable for some of his allies and political supporters, who side with the uprising and say it’s time for Qaddafi to go.
Latin America’s staunchest leftists long ago embraced Qaddafi as a fellow fighter against global US influence.
Both Castro and Chavez have repeatedly suggested the US is stirring up trouble in Libya to grab its oil and say Libyans should settle their own internal conflict.
That stance has put them at odds with some of their friends. The left-leaning governments of Argentina and Brazil have condemned Qaddafi’s crackdown on opposition. And even some followers of Castro and Chavez have been recoiling from their positions.
Comments posted on Cuban government Web sites and some articles on the pro-Chavez Web site aporrea.org have objected to backing for Libya’s eccentric strongman. One article on aporrea.org titled “Neither Qaddafi nor imperialism!” said that Chavez’s government should “support the revolutionary masses of Libya” that have risen up to topple the “capitalist dictator.”
A group of Venezuelan Marxists led by writer Domingo Alberto Rangel and lawyer Jose Ramon Velasquez issued a statement last week condemning Qaddafi’s “brutal repression” of the civilian population.
Caracas, meanwhile, released a statement backed by more than 260 artists and intellectuals in Venezuela and elsewhere opposing foreign military intervention and supporting Chavez’s mediation proposal.
Adam Isacson, an analyst at the Washington Office on Latin America, said Chavez’s approach and “his evident lack of concern about Qaddafi’s abuses owe to a combination of misplaced south-south solidarity and a desire to take a position contrary to the United States’ almost for its own sake.”
“Chavez’s stance certainly gives a lot of new fodder to his many international critics,” Isacson said. “Especially among more moderate Latin American leaders, Chavez’s Libya stance increases the political cost of maintaining warm relations with him.”
The Chavez-Castro stance also is at odds with that of many Arab states. The Arab League is promoting a no-fly zone to prevent more air strikes by Qaddafi’s forces.
The AU, however, said it had formed a committee of heads of state who will travel to Libya to try to resolve the crisis.
“We condemn the disproportionate use of force,” said Noureddine Mezni, spokesman for AU Chairman Jean Ping. “We are taking this issue of Libya very seriously.”
Chavez also praised the position of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who has been wary of a military intervention, and said he expects Russia and China to weigh in against foreign military involvement.
In related news, G8 powers failed to agree on military intervention in Libya, French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe said yesterday, after the countries discussed proposals for a no-fly zone there.
“For the moment I have not convinced them,” Juppe said on Europe 1 radio.
France and Britain have been pushing for a no-fly zone that would ground Libyan aircraft to protect its people from assault by forces loyal to Qaddafi and France has even talked of targeted air strikes.
The US, Russia and EU countries had reacted cautiously to the no-fly zone proposal.
Juppe recognized that Qaddafi had the upper hand in his battle against Libya’s rebels, whom he has driven out of several towns this week with shelling and airstrikes.
The G8 powers agreed instead to turn to the UN Security Council for a resolution to “raise the pressure against the Qaddafi regime,” Juppe said, citing a possible sea embargo.
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