Venezuelan Ambassador Discusses Relations Between US and Region (UCLA Today)

[struggle4progress]

... "The two issues of the Honduras crisis and the bases — military bases in Colombia — are going to be turning points in the relationship," Álvarez Herrera told listeners in Bunche Hall on Thursday, Oct. 8. The lecture by the Venezuelan diplomat and political scientist was sponsored by the Latin American Institute and the International Institute.

On both issues, Álvarez Herrera said, some in the United States government are taking positions more in line with cold war strategy than with what he spoke of as the new reality in Latin America. The Obama administration pressed for the reinstatement of ousted President Manuel Zelaya following the coup in Honduras, but Venezuelan and other allies of Zelaya in the region have been alarmed by equivocal messages from the State Department and by congressional lobbying on behalf of the de facto military government in Honduras.

"The first thing these people (the coup leaders) did in Honduras was to try to come to Washington and get the support of people in Washington," said Álvarez Herrera. "That is an old tradition in Latin America."

Regarding U.S. plans to use military bases in Colombia, the ambassador said that Venezuela and other South American nations were now demanding "formal guarantees" limiting the types of operations launched from them. Earlier in the week, a State Department official said that the accord will merely formalize U.S. access to the bases for the joint anti-narcotics mission. But Venezuela and other members of the Union of South American Nations, Colombia excepted, have expressed suspicions about the arrangement ...

http://www.international.ucla.edu/news/article.asp?parentid=112486

[EFerrari]

1. Alvarez Herrera seems like a very good choice for the job he's in.

Well spoken, generally positive and deft. It's hard to imagine him being intimidated by any, too.