U.S., Venezuela hold rare diplomatic meeting

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Reuters

U.S., Venezuela hold rare diplomatic meeting
Tue Oct 2, 2007 4:18pm EDT

CARACAS (Reuters) - Senior officials from antagonists Venezuela and the United States held a rare meeting on Monday and laid the groundwork for a possible visit by Washington's top diplomat for Latin America, Venezuela said.

The OPEC nation is a major oil exporter to the United States but the two trading partners typically have little diplomatic contact and there had been no such high-level meetings for years.

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro had "very cordial," hour-long talks with Thomas Shannon, the U.S. diplomat in charge of relations with Latin America, at the U.N. General Assembly in New York, the foreign ministry said late on Monday.

It was the first time the two men had met and Shannon expressed interest in visiting Venezuela, the ministry said.
(snip)

Political analysts and diplomats say there is potential for a thaw in the strained relations when Bush leaves office in 2009, especially if a Democrat wins the presidency.


Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/politicsNews/idUSN0238025420071002

[Peace Patriot]

1. Could it be that REALITY has invaded some area of Bushite foreign policy?

The Bolivarians are winning--cuz of the hard work of a whole lot of people on transparent elections in South America, and cuz the Bolivarians--Chavez (Venezuela), Correa (Ecuador), Morales (Bolivia) and Kirchner (Argentina)--are actually REAL representatives of their people, and are genuine believers in good government, social justice and Latin American self-determination, and this movement is sweeping the continent. It is so powerful that even the few remaining rightwing leaders have had to pay respects to it, and center/left leaders like Lulu in Brazil have gone out of their way to show solidarity, for instance, with Hugo Chavez.

None of the typical Bushite/CIA dirty tactics have worked--and they have instead backfired. Coup attempts. Phony rightwing "riots." Death squads (in Colombia). Pouring U.S. taxpayer money into local rightwing "opposition" groups. War profiteering corporate "news" monopoly campaigns to marginalize and demonize. Divide and conquer tactics (bullying, kneecapping, threats, bribes). Every Bushite move causes more people to vote leftist, and yet another leftist government is elected. South America, as a whole, has gone LEFTIST. And central America is next. So Bushites are cozying up to Venezuela?

Could be. But Bushites are so filthy dirty, you have to wonder about this report--even though it comes from Venezuela, which I would give some trust to, on such a report, whereas if it came from Bushites, I would automatically discount it and look for their rotten motives.

Questions: Why would Shannon (a Bushite) be making this overture (or respond to one)? Why would the Venezuelan ministry have made the overture (if they initiated it), and then reported it? There is more here than meets the eye. And I would guess that all the cards are in the Venezuelans' hands.

One thing I'm pretty sure of is that no such meetings would have taken place if the Bush Junta was about the attack Iran. It may be good news on that score. But you gotta wonder what Shannon is up to. War secretary Gates is off on a tour of the few fascist governments where Bushites are still welcome in Latin America (El Salvador, Colombia, Peru). One of Gates' goals is to find another location for the Manta U.S. air base, which Bolivarian Rafael Correa is throwing out of Ecuador. Another development is the big scandals in Colombia, tying rightwing death squads and drug trafficking to the Uribe government (Bush's pals, and recipients of billions in Bushite/U.S. taxpayer largesse). Various corporate and U.S. police state ("war on drugs") interests may be in jeopardy. A plot to assassinate Chavez, destabilize Venezuela and install a rightwing military junta was hatched among these Colombian government-tied criminals--a plot that appears to have been defeated. Apparently even Uribe balked at it, and is said to have developed a friendship with Chavez, who has volunteered to negotiate hostage releases with Colombian leftist guerrillas.

Things are going so-o-o-o badly for the Bushites and their corporate/criminal pals that possibly they are being forced into a diplomatic mode--which I can only think will be temporary--possibly by the very global corporate predators who installed Bush, and who would think nothing of assassinating Chavez, if they got the advantage of him. But business is business. I noticed that Exxon-Mobile has enlisted the World Bank to try to extract more billions from the Venezuelan poor, for the oil infrastructure that Chavez has nationalized. They can't stop the nationalization. They have tried everything. So now it's a matter of dollars and cents--salvaging more of their ungodly profit.

As Evo Morales (Bolivia) has made clear: "We want partners, not bosses." The South American poor ARE going to get a bigger share of their countries' resources. Whether it will be in an atmosphere of hostility, or of cooperation, is the question. And it's possible that the corporate predators--in a temporary standdown--have chosen the latter. And THEY dictate Bushite policy.