Call to Assassinate Chavez Puts Leader in International Limelight,boosts

[cal04]

Call to Assassinate Chavez Puts Leader in International Limelight, Boosts Him Domestically

A call for the U.S. to assassinate Hugo Chavez is playing into the Venezuelan leader's political hands, bolstering his claim that Washington wants to kill him, putting him in the international limelight and probably boosting his popularity at home. Chavez supporters said Wednesday the suggestion by religious broadcaster Pat Robertson that the United States should "take him out" gave credence to Chavez's warnings that the U.S. government is searching for ways to overthrow his leftist regime. "If anyone had a doubt, now they no longer do," said Maritza Uzcategui, a 50-year-old nurse and Chavez supporter. "He's been saying they want to kill him."

U.S. officials called Robertson's on-air remarks inappropriate and repeated assurances that the United States is not considering killing Chavez despite its questions about his commitment to democracy and accusations he is spreading instability in Latin America. Robertson apologized Wednesday, saying it was wrong to call for someone's assassination. "I spoke in frustration that we should accommodate the man who thinks the U.S. is out to kill him," he said in a statement.

For months, Chavez has peppered his speeches with mentions of assassination plots and purported U.S. efforts to oust him. He warns that Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest petroleum exporter, will cut off oil shipments to the U.S. if it backs any sort of conspiracy against him. At the same time, Chavez has been seeking to raise Venezuela's profile internationally, extending preferential oil deals to countries from China to Argentina in an effort to strengthen alliances and line up alternative trade partners from the U.S., which is the No. 1 buyer of Venezuelan oil.

By legitimizing Chavez's warnings about plots, Robertson's words will raise the president's profile and bolster his already high domestic support, which is drawn primiarily from the country's poor majority, said Luis Vicente Leon, director of the Venezuelan polling firm Datanalisis. "What is certain is that the statement strengthens Chavez domestically and internationally," said Leon, whose polling firm said last month that Chavez has a 70 percent approval rating. "It amplifies the connection that Chavez has with the population who follows him."

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBDDMK3SCE.html

[Kikosexy2]

1. Gracias...

Patricia Robertson...You are truly a man of God (eyes rolling).

[movonne]

2. He is a man of greed...what people like him are doing to this

country makes me sick..He certainly is not a man of God...He is the religious branch of the bush administration.

[Kikosexy2]

3. I know...

just being sarcastic...Ol' Pat a man of God...bwwaaahhahhahahhaa! and Tammy Faye is born again...uh, huh.