JokingClown
28th August 2005, 21:12
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/N2827786.htm
Venezuela's Chavez no threat to region -Jackson
CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 28 (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson on Sunday rejected U.S. government claims that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a threat to regional stability and called on both governments to curb escalating rhetoric to resolve their differences.
Relations between Venezuela and the United States, strained since left-winger Chavez first won office in 1998, have deteriorated in recent weeks after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeated accusations during a South American tour that Chavez was fomenting regional instability.
Jackson, who plans to meet with Chavez during a three-day visit to Venezuela, said the U.S. charges were baseless but that both sides should work to scale back their war of words.
"There is no evidence that is stated and established that this government is in fact a source of instability," Jackson told reporters at a news conference. "I hope that we would reduce the rhetoric that exacerbates tensions."
Venezuela's Chavez no threat to region -Jackson
CARACAS, Venezuela, Aug 28 (Reuters) - U.S. civil rights activist Rev. Jesse Jackson on Sunday rejected U.S. government claims that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is a threat to regional stability and called on both governments to curb escalating rhetoric to resolve their differences.
Relations between Venezuela and the United States, strained since left-winger Chavez first won office in 1998, have deteriorated in recent weeks after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeated accusations during a South American tour that Chavez was fomenting regional instability.
Jackson, who plans to meet with Chavez during a three-day visit to Venezuela, said the U.S. charges were baseless but that both sides should work to scale back their war of words.
"There is no evidence that is stated and established that this government is in fact a source of instability," Jackson told reporters at a news conference. "I hope that we would reduce the rhetoric that exacerbates tensions."