Venezuela's Chavez To Skip
EU-Latin America Summit
CARACAS (Dow Jones) - Venezuela President
Hugo Chavez won't be attending next week's
European Union-Latin America summit in
Madrid.
A statement late Friday from state-run news
agency ABN didn't provide an explanation for
why Chavez was skipping the event.
Representatives of more than 50 countries
from the EU, Latin America and the Caribbean
will meet Monday through Wednesday in
Madrid, among them about 30 presidents and
prime ministers.
A couple of weeks ago, Chavez and some other
Latin American leaders said they may boycott
the Madrid event if Honduran President
Porfirio Lobo chose to attend. Chavez is
still upset about the way Lobo's
predecessor, leftist Manuel Zelaya, was
ousted from power, although he also
recognizes Lobo as Honduras's democratically
elected president.
Amid the possible boycott, Lobo last week
canceled plans to attend the EU-Latin
American summit, saying he didn't want to be
a cause of conflict. Still, he indicated he
would attend a parallel meeting between the
EU and Central American nations, also next
week in Spain.
In Chavez' place at the Madrid meeting will
be Francisco Arias Cardenas, Venezuela's
vice chancellor for Latin America, the ABN
statement said. |
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