Thread: Iran, Venezuela agree to finance third countries to oppose U

Iran, Venezuela agree to finance third countries to oppose U.S. domination

January 14, 2007
BY NATALIE OBIKO PEARSON Associated Press
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Saturday that they were ready to spend billions of dollars financing projects in other countries to help thwart U.S. domination.

The fiery anti-U.S. presidents whose efforts to extend their influence have alarmed Washington met in Venezuela's capital, the first stop on Ahmadinejad's tour of Latin America that will see him also visit newly elected leftist leaders in Nicaragua and Ecuador.

» Click to enlarge image

In this image released by Miraflores Press Office, Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, center left, and the president of Venezuela Hugo Chavez, meet with their delegations at Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Saturday.
(AP)
The oil-rich nations had previously announced plans for a joint US$2 billion fund to finance investments in Venezuela and Iran, but Chavez and Ahmadinejad said Saturday that the money would also be used for projects in friendly third countries.

"It will permit us to underpin investments ... above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (U.S.) imperialist yoke," said Chavez.

"This fund, my brother," Chavez said referring to Ahmadinejad, "will become a mechanism for liberation.

"Death to U.S. imperialism!" he said.

Ahmadinejad called it a "very important" decision that would help promote "joint cooperation in third countries," especially in Latin American and African countries.

Before his meeting with Ahmadinejad, Chavez said in his state of the nation address that he had personally expressed hope to Thomas Shannon, head of the U.S. State Department's Western Hemisphere affairs bureau, for better relations between their two countries.

Chavez said he spoke with Shannon on the sidelines of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega's inauguration earlier this week, saying, ""We shook hands and I told him: 'I hope that everything improves.'"

Chavez -- a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro whom Washington sees as a destabilizing influence -- has pledged billions of dollars of help to the region in foreign aid, bond buyouts and preferentially financed oil deals.

Iran, meanwhile, is allegedly bankrolling militant groups in the Middle East like Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as insurgents in Iraq, in a bid to extend its influence.

Ahmadinejad's visit Saturday -- his second to Venezuela in less than four months -- comes as he seeks to break international isolation over his country's nuclear program and possibly line up new allies in Latin America.

After Venezuela, Ahmadinejad will visit newly elected leftist governments in Nicaragua and Ecuador that are also seeking to reduce Washington's influence in the region.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad have been increasingly united by their deep-seated antagonism to Washington. Chavez has become a leading defender of Iran's nuclear ambitions, accusing the United States of using the issue as a pretext to attack a regime it opposes and promising to stand with Iran.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, has called Chavez "the champion of the struggle against imperialism."

On Saturday, he congratulated Chavez on his December re-election and said the Venezuelan people were wise to choose "a person as important on the world stage, a person so wise as Hugo Chavez."

The increasingly close relationship has alarmed some, and critics of Chavez accuse him of pursuing an alliance that does not serve Venezuela's interests and jeopardizes its ties with the United States, the country's top oil buyer. Venezuela is among the top five suppliers of crude to the U.S. market.

Both countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Chavez said Saturday that they had agreed to back an oil production cut in the cartel in order to stem a recent fall in crude prices.

"We know today there is too much crude in the market," Chavez siad. "We have agreed to join our forces within OPEC ... to support a production cut and save the price of oil."

The two governments, which already plan to jointly produce everything from bricks to bicycles and develop oil fields in Venezuela, signed another 11 accords Saturday to explore further opportunities for cooperation in areas like tourism, education and mining.

Ahmadinejad is set to travel to Nicaragua to meet on Sunday with Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla. On Monday, he travels to Ecuador for the inauguration of President-elect Rafael Correa, another outspoken critic of the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and Washington's policies in Latin America.

Copyright 2007 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


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Is Jorge going to ignore the death threats?

Originally Posted by IndianaJones

Is Jorge going to ignore the death threats?

Why not? Americans are ignoring the middle east. Just another example of how we all hate the President, and yet when he tries to do something, he gets criticized. He might as well just stop putting any effort into anything.

"This fund, my brother," Chavez said referring to Ahmadinejad, "will become a mechanism for liberation.

"Death to U.S. imperialism!" he said.

More evidence of why we need to avoid tunnel vision and focus on ALL of the problems that we are having right now, not just one.

Bush wants to unite South, Central and North America, it'a good that Chaves got in his and the CFR way, this will give us more time to fight against this union.
If ther wasn't any Chaves, Boosh would get this union in a moment.