US Targets Venezuela, Chavez

Venezuela is the target of a current US strategy to disqualify President Hugo Chavez, Parliamentary Foreign Policy Commission chairman Saul Ortega stated Thursday.

Interviewed on the Venezolana de Television program "En Confianza," the legislator indicated that Washington seeks to "generate negative perceptions to pave the way for aggression."

The Bush administration wishes to leave a conflict with Venezuela for the next government to inherit, and attempts to link Chavez with terrorism and the alleged failure of cooperation to fight drug trafficking, he stressed.

Questioned on possible Caracas links with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, Ortega said "there is a threat against the nation."

Incidents will go on, noted the deputy after highlighting that to face that, "the most powerful weapon is the Venezuelan people's conscience."

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro noted that Washington's attempt to declare this country a state sponsor of terrorism is "the result of the failure of its policy" for the region.