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Chavez Tells Venezuelans to Prepare for War
CARACAS – President Hugo Chavez called
Sunday on Venezuelan soldiers and civilians
who support him to prepare for war, after
warning the governments of Colombia and the
United States that Venezuelans are “ready
for anything.”
Chavez issued the strong warning after
adopting the view of former Cuban President
Fidel Castro that the United States annexed
Colombia with the treaty those two nations
recently signed allowing U.S. soldiers to
use military bases in the neighboring South
American country.
“Let them not make a mistake, because we
(Venezuelans) are ready for anything,”
Chavez remarked, thereby implicitly ruling
out his acceptance of Brazilian President
Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s offer to try and
arrange a meeting with Colombian President
Alvaro Uribe.
“One must speak with love and therefore I
say to the (U.S.) president, (Barack) Obama:
don’t make a mistake and order an open
attack on Venezuela using Colombia,” said
the Venezuelan leader on his Sunday radio
and television program “Alo Presidente.”
Before shouting “Fatherland, socialism or
death,” Chavez ordered members of the armed
forces “to prepare yourselves for war as the
best way to avoid it.”
“This world is infected by the virus of the
terrible disease of violence by the most
powerful against the weakest,” he said,
adding that “many people have been having
illusions” of change in the United States
with the coming of Obama to the presidency.
“We were always cautious about the triumph
of President Obama. Early on, we began to
take note of the truth, that the empire is
here, alive and more threatening than ever,”
Chavez said.
Although Chavez did not allude explicitly to
the desire of Lula to set up a meeting
between him and Uribe, he emphasized that
the Brazilian president recently said in
Britain that “the only thing that’s been
seen about Obama is the coup in Honduras and
the seven military bases” in Colombia that
will be able to be used by the U.S.
military.
The Colombian government “transferred itself
to the United States. This must be known.
Regrettably, it’s this way, it’s sad and
painful, but this is the way it is,” Chavez
said, adding that “Colombia surrendered; not
the people but rather the government, the
oligarchy, without shame or anything.
Before, they put on the mask, now they’ve
removed the mask.”
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