Posted on 05/21/2003 2:04:39 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela, smoothing over a diplomatic dispute surrounding the U.S. ambassador in Caracas, said on Tuesday it was not looking for a fight with the United States, its main overseas oil market.
Senior Venezuelan officials last week heaped criticism on Ambassador Charles Shapiro for hosting an event at his official residence in which a comedian used a puppet to ridicule President Hugo Chavez. The State Department said the skit was "inappropriate" and did not represent the official U.S. view.
The incident threatened to sour relations which have been strained in the past by mutual criticism between the Bush administration and the government of left-winger Chavez, who has sharply condemned the recent U.S. invasion of Iraq.
Venezuela's ambassador to Washington, Bernardo Alvarez, told reporters in Caracas on Tuesday that Venezuela wanted to preserve and extend its economic relations with the United States.
"We're not looking for any kind of confrontation," Alvarez said after holding talks with Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel, who last week criticized the event at the ambassador's Caracas home as an "irresponsible provocation."
In Venezuela's National Assembly, pro-government deputies who hold a slim majority passed a resolution on Tuesday urging the U.S. ambassador to apologize for what they described as his "unfriendly act."
Shapiro said last week he was sorry if the incident had offended anyone.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez cheers while holding up a parrot wearing one of Chavez' trademark red berets, in Caracas October 13, 2002. Chavez, ignoring renewed opposition pressure for him to resign six months after surviving a coup, led hundreds of thousands of supporters in a big show of strength for his self-proclaimed revolution. REUTERS/Kimberly White
Alvarez said Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, supplied 14 percent of U.S. oil imports. It was also Washington's third-biggest trade partner in Latin America after Brazil and Mexico.
"There may be political differences, but what you see is an historic relationship ... There is no reason for it to be affected," he added.
Since he was elected in 1998, former paratrooper Chavez has irritated the United States by strengthening Venezuela's relations with states viewed as hostile by Washington including Cuba, Iran, Libya and Iraq and by condemning the U.S. military campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Some members of Chavez's government have accused the United States of supporting a coup that briefly toppled the Venezuelan president last year, but Washington has denied this.
Silencing Venezuela: Hugo Chavez's proposed media law ( Radio - Television - Newpapers)***Arelis Lopez holds a sign reading 'Yes to information' and wears a bandanna over her mouth and hand cuffs as she protests with other members of 'Women for Freedom' against a media law proposed in Congress that will restrict graphic violence on television and reduce subjective censoring by radio and television channels, in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, May 20, 2003. Opponents believe that if passed, the law could prohibit television and radio stations from criticizing the government. The sign at right reads 'We will go to jail in defense of freedom' and their shirts read 'Guards of freedom."***
"Wise decision," says Saddam Hussein.
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