Chavez Rejects Obama's Ambassador-Designate To Venezuela
<http://buzz.yahoo.com/article/wsj/http://online.wsj.com/article/BT-CO-20100808-702875.html?mod=wsj_share_ybuzz> By Dan Molinski Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES CARACAS (Dow Jones)--President Hugo Chavez on Sunday rejected the U.S. ambassador-designate to Venezuela after nominee Larry Palmer suggested from Washington that morale is low among Venezuelan soldiers. "He can't come here, he has disqualified himself by breaking all the rules of diplomacy," Chavez said on television. "The best the U.S. can do is look for another candidate." Palmer, who has served as an ambassador to Honduras, was nominated by President Barack Obama in June. He has not yet been confirmed by the Senate to replace the current ambassador, Patrick Duddy. Ahead of the possible Senate confirmation vote, some U.S. senators sent Palmer questions aimed at gauging how he may handle the tense relations between the U.S. and Chavez, a firebrand socialist and frequent critic of U.S. policies. It was the responses to a series of questions from U.S. Sen. Richard Lugar (R., Ind.), the ranking Republican on the Senate's Foreign Relations Committee, that got Palmer into hot water with the Chavez government. Regarding Venezuela's military, Palmer said "morale is reported to be considerably low, particularly due to politically oriented appointments." He also wrote about alleged links between the Chavez government and Marxist Colombian guerrillas, accusations that Chavez steadfastly denies. Palmer said: "I am keenly aware of the clear ties between members of the Venezuelan government and Colombian guerillas." A U.S. State Department official last week said Palmer got it right in terms of the opinions he expressed about relations between the U.S. and Venezuela. Several attempts in recent days to reach Palmer were unsuccessful. U.S. Embassy officials in Caracas weren't immediately available to comment Sunday. -By Dan Molinski, Dow Jones Newswires; 58-414-120-5738; dan.molin...@dowjones.com Chavez bars nominated U.S. envoy to Venezuela ** - Politics ยป <https://mail.google.com/news/politics> CARACAS | Sun Aug 8, 2010 4:49pm EDT CARACAS (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez said he would not allow the newly nominated U.S. ambassador, Larry Palmer, to take up his post in Caracas after what he said were viewed as offensive comments about Venezuela. "How do you think, Obama, that I am going to accept that gentleman as ambassador?" Chavez said in a TV program, referring to President Barack Obama's new envoy. "It's impossible." (Reporting by Andrew Cawthorne<http://blogs.reuters.com/search/journalist.php?edition=us&n=andrew.cawthorne&;>, Editing by Sandra Maler) [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------------------ --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LAAMN: Los Angeles Alternative Media Network --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unsubscribe: <mailto:laamn-unsubscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Subscribe: <mailto:laamn-subscr...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Digest: <mailto:laamn-dig...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Help: <mailto:laamn-ow...@egroups.com?subject=laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Post: <mailto:la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive1: <http://www.egroups.com/messages/laamn> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Archive2: <http://www.mail-archive.com/la...@egroups.com> --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/ <*> Your email settings: Individual Email | Traditional <*> To change settings online go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/laamn/join (Yahoo! ID required) <*> To change settings via email: laamn-dig...@yahoogroups.com laamn-fullfeatu...@yahoogroups.com <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: laamn-unsubscr...@yahoogroups.com <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
