Rumsfeld likens Chavez to Hitler
Friday 03 February 2006, 23:28 Makka Time, 20:28 GMT
The United States has expelled a Venezuelan diplomat a day
after Donald Rumsfeld, the US defence secretary, compared Hugo Chavez to
Adolf Hitler.
Asked during a National Press Club appearance on Thursday
about indications of a generally deteriorating relationship between
Washington and parts of Latin America, Rumsfeld said he believes such a
characterisation "misses the mark".
He said the rise of elected populist leaders in Latin America
such as Chavez, Venezuela's president, was "worrisome".
"You've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money," he
said.
"He's a person who was elected legally just as Adolf Hitler
was elected legally.
"And then (he) has consolidated power. And now, of course, is
working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr Morales and others," Rumsfeld
said, said referring to Evo Morales, Bolivia's new president, and Castro
of Cuba.
Spying charges
Rumsfeld's comments were followed a day later by the US
expulsion of Jeny Figueredo Frias, a chief of staff to the Venezuelan
ambassador.
Frias was declared persona non grata and given 72 hours to
leave the US.
Sean McCormack, the US State Department spokesman, said the US
action was a direct response to Venezuela's expulsion of John Correa, the
US navy attaché in Caracas.
"We don't like to get into tit-for-tat games with the
Venezuelan government like this, but they initiated this and we were
forced to respond," he said.
On Thursday, Chavez accused Correa of spying.
Chavez said: "John Correa has to leave the country
immediately.
"We have decided, in diplomatic terms, to declare him persona
non grata, in plain Spanish that means to throw out of the country an
officer at the US military mission for spying."
The socialist president, a critic of the United States, added
that if other military attaches were caught spying, they could be
detained.
Charges denied
Correa is alleged to have passed secret information from
Venezuelan military officers to the Pentagon.
In Washington, Lieutenant-Colonel Mark Ballesteros, a Defence
Department spokesman, said Correa "has been rotated back to the US
mainland for further duties as assigned".
The US State Department denied that the attaché had been
involved in spying.
Janelle Hironimus, a State Department spokeswoman, said: "None
of the attachés was or is engaged in inappropriate activities."
There have been increasing signs of hostility between
Washington and Caracas.
Chavez refers to Bush as "Mr Danger," and is known to attack
his "imperialist" policies. He also accuses Washington of trying to kill
him.
US officials say Chavez has teamed up with Cuba to destabilise
the region with his revolutionary message.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/5A16080D-C887-4232-8CE9-DF6C2D7BDB22.htm
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