VENEZUELA: Hugo Chavez meets with Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Nestor Kirchner over tensions with Colombia

Record ID: 805113

  • Title: VENEZUELA: Hugo Chavez meets with Brazilian president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva and Nestor Kirchner over tensions with Colombia
  • Date: 7th August 2010
  • Summary: VARIOUS OF LULA'S CART
  • Embargoed: 22nd August 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA28BHC4KH8P6169D4SKQMVK9BK
  • Story Text: As tensions remain high between Colombia and Venezuela, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva met in Caracas with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Secretary-General of the Union of South American Nations, or UNASUR, Nestor Kirchner on Friday (August 06) .
    The socialist Chavez severed ties with his neighbor last month and announced he was sending troops to the border when the outgoing government of President Alvaro Uribe, a close U.S. ally, said Venezuela tolerated Marxist rebel camps on its territory.
    Lula and Kirchner were visiting Chavez to negotiate an end to the dispute between the two oil-producing nations before heading to Saturday's inauguration of Colombian President-elect Juan Manuel Santos in Colombia.
    In his last weeks in office, Uribe has been increasingly outspoken in his criticism of Chavez, angrily accusing him of tolerating top FARC commanders while making indirect criticisms of Venezuela's socialist economic and political model.
    Chavez met with Lula and Kirchner on Friday but said talks would likely continue with Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro in the coming days.
    "Yes, yes, at any rate we are going to speak right now. But it is very likely that [Foreign Minister] Nicolas [Maduro] will take over tomorrow."
    Santos, a market-friendly technocrat from an elite Bogota family, has vowed to normalize relations with Venezuela.
    Regional leaders have pushed for the two foes to peacefully end their disputes and in a sign of possible thawing Caracas announced that FM Maduro will attend the inauguration ceremony.
    After the meeting, Chavez, who will not attend the inauguration, said Lula is taking a message with him to Bogota.
    "He is heading to Bogota for the inauguration of President Santos and he has a mission that we have discussed a lot here today with Secretary-General Nestor Kirchner who is [also] going to Bogota. But we're not going to talk about that here today. We will talk about that tomorrow and the next day. We are very optimistic. We just have to move forward," Chavez said.
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