On September 11, 2008, Venezuela’s Hugo Chávez, at a mass rally of fanatics, ordered U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, out of the country within 72 hours. The reason for Duddy’s expulsion was Chávez’s pique with the diplomatic spat between the Bush Administration and the government of Bolivian Evo Morales. The expulsion speech was laced with hate-filled invectives. “Go straight to hell you, Yankees of s—t,” screamed Chávez. The four-letter expletive figured prominently throughout the speech. For a professional diplomat like Ambassador Duddy, those events were certainly traumatic, personally and professionally. …
On April 6, Ambassador Jeffrey S. Davidow, White House Advisor for the Summit of the Americas, said very plainly: “It would be unfortunate if the principal theme of [the Summit of the Americas] turned out to be Cuba. As I’ve told you, I think there are a lot of very important issues that warrant discussion, whether it’s the economic issue, social inclusion, the environment, public safety. We would prefer, obviously, to focus on what we have been preparing for, but there is no effort on our part to try to …
“Arriving in Tehran,” Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez declared, “for us is like arriving at one’s home town.” It certainly should be as this is his sixth as President. The purpose of the visit, Chavez announced was to form with Iran a “common revolutionary front … in the world.” As for patching up relations with President Obama and the U.S. in the run-up to the Fifth Summit of the Americas, to be held in Trinidad and Tobago from April 17-19, Chavez was less positive. I don’t have much hope, because behind …
The Fifth Summit of the Americas kicks off in Trinidad and Tobago on April 17. President Obama will attend. U.S. diplomats are hard at work to make it the starting point for a “New Day” in Latin American partnership. Several Latin American leaders, however, are working hard to create difficulties and force U.S.-Latin America splits. On his way to Iran this week, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chávez stopped off in Qatar. He wants Arab leaders to join him in creating a “petro-currency” to replace the U.S. dollar as a reserve currency …
