U.S. diplomat's reported criticism angers Venezuela

CNN
February 1, 2000

U.S. diplomat's reported criticism angers Venezuela

                  CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela's foreign minister criticized a
                  top-ranking U.S. State Department official on Tuesday for reported
                  comments that Venezuela's government is being poorly run and Washington
                  is losing patience.

Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel called the comments "unfriendly" and
"threatening" and demanded an explanation from the United States.

                  In an interview published Saturday in the Madrid daily ABC, Peter Romero,
                  the State Department's top official for Latin America, was quoted as saying
                  that "we've extended our hand to (Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez
                  since the start. I went to Caracas to offer him assistance.

                  "Later, unfortunately, you see diplomacy through press conferences. But you
                  don't see a government operating, only plebiscites, referendums, more
                  elections, and they tell us, 'You have to wait.' But we gringos aren't known
                  for our patience."

                  A spokesman at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas had no comment on
                  Romero's alleged statements, and there was no immediate reaction from the
                  U.S. State Department in Washington.

                  Speaking at a news conference, Rangel lashed out at Romero by saying: "If
                  the gringos aren't known for patience, we Venezuelans aren't known for a
                  lack of dignity."

Rangel said the elections Venezuela has been holding over the past year for
a new constitution are an essential part of democracy.

                  Rangel met Tuesday with U.S. Ambassador John Maisto and said he asked
                  Maisto to verify whether Romero made the statements and if he did whether
                  they represent the official position of the U.S. government.

                  Last month, tensions between the two countries rose when Chavez reversed
                  his defense minister's decision to invite two U.S. ships with 450 military
                  engineers who were to rebuild a key coastal road in an area devastated by
                  deadly landslides in December.

One of the ships already was en route to Venezuela when U.S. officials
ordered it home.

U.S. officials said they were dismayed by the Venezuela's about face.

                  Chavez, a left-leaning former paratrooper who led a failed 1992 coup and
                  was elected president in December 1998, also has refused to allow the
                  United States to use Venezuela's airspace for anti-drug flights. He often
                  speaks of the need to reduce U.S. influence in the world and has developed
                  a close friendship with Cuban leader Fidel Castro.