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"We are not asking you to intervene in Honduras, Obama. On the contrary, we are asking that "the empire" get its hands off Honduras and get its claws out of Latin America," Chavez said in a rambling weekly television and radio show.
"President Obama is lost in the Andromeda Nebula, he has lost his bearings, he doesn't get it," he said.
Chavez repeated an accusation that the United States had prior knowledge of the coup that deposed Honduran President Manuel Zelaya on June 28 and the military plane that flew Zelaya out of the country had used a U.S. base in Honduras.
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The leftist Venezuelan leader is furious, however, at a U.S. security agreement with Colombia that will give the Pentagon access to seven Colombian military bases. Chavez has cut trade with his neighbor as a reprisal.
The United States and Colombia say the deal is an expansion of an existing accord and will help fight drug traffickers and guerrillas involved in the Colombian cocaine trade. Chavez says a larger U.S. troop presence risks sparking war in the region.
Venezuela is planning to beef up its army by buying tanks and other weapons from Russia, Chavez said, adding that his country needs to be prepared for an attack.
Chavez claims the United States wants to control Venezuela's huge oil reserves as well as the Amazon region.
"This is just the start of an imperial military expansion," Chavez said of the U.S.-Colombian security arrangement.
Chavez asked Obama to withdraw U.S. forces from the Palmerola air base in Honduras (also known as Soto Cano) and from Guantanamo Bay which the U.S. Navy has used as a base in Cuba for over a century.
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ST.PETERSBURG (Reuters) - Russia and Venezuela on Saturday moved closer to an oil venture deal and discussed arms trade, forging a partnership that may drag Russia into a row over the U.S. military presence in Colombia.
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Colombia's government is expected to sign a deal this month giving U.S. forces increased access to military bases in order to fight the cocaine trade and Marxist insurgents. Chavez has blasted the plan as a threat to regional stability.
"We as a sovereign state must protect our people and in that sense we can make arms purchases that we deem necessary," Carrizalez said. "These bases without doubt create a threat for all Latin American countries.
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But the main reason is because of support from individuals like Hugo Chavez. Colombians recently discovered computer files tying the Venezuelan president to FARC during a raid in Ecuador, with Chavez committing $300 million toward their cause. It’s the sad fate of America that a chunk of the money being sent to OPEC nations eventually ends up funding terrorist groups, be it the right-wingers in Saudi Arabia or the lefties in in South America. Chavez, who never met a revolutionary he didn’t love, even sucking up to Iranian president/Holocaust denier Ahmahdinejad last year, certainly wants to see the noble FARC freedom fighters succeed. It won’t do his propaganda any good to have a country right next door to him have a higher GDP and quality of life, despite having smaller hydrocarbon reserves.
And really, that’s what keeps FARC afloat. They have virtually no support in any of the major Colombian cities, only gettign some Robin Hood-like sympathy from poorer peasants in the more rural and mountainous areas of the country. But if there’s any constant about developing countries, it’s that rural populations tend to fade as urban populations grow, so love for FARC will continue to erode until they literally have to operate from other countries completely, existing as a state-less organization.
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This is no longer the case, with the American national debate (and that in several other developed countries) consumed by climate change, emissions and the preposterous idea that solar and wind energies can substitute for carbon-based or nuclear energy sources. While any realistic and even charitable estimate puts solar and wind as contributing less than 1 percent of world energy demand for the next 20 years, more than 85 percent will still derive from oil, gas and coal; this while world energy demand will increase by more than 40 percent. The lion’s share of the latter will go to China.
The concern for the 1 percent solution, while ignoring the 85 percent question, is tantamount to economic hara-kiri for the United States. It also presents a huge opportunity for China to expand its energy interests worldwide and diversify its supply sources.
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Almost overnight, the United States and the European Union will be reduced to mere bystanders while China moves into the big geopolitical leagues. Massive Chinese acquisition of energy assets, while the West is philosophizing on the future of the “planet” and carbon cap-and-trade schemes, will lead to a transfer of political and economic power that the modern world has rarely seen. Why the United States would be willing to give up competing for what has arguably been the world’s most vital commodity -- and for which there is no credible alternative even on the far horizon -- is mystifying if not bizarre.
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Under the deal, the US military will be able to operate on Colombian soil to tackle drug-trafficking and terrorism.
Mrs Clinton said the threats were very real and that the US was "committed to supporting the government of Colombia in its efforts to provide security to all its citizens".
Mr Bermudez said developing "more effective mechanisms of cooperation" would benefit both Colombia and the region.
"We have suffered, and we have learned from the lessons as a result of this suffering," he said.
A number of countries in the region have condemned the plan and Argentina has called the move "not helpful".
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed fears the move would amount to preparation for an invasion of his country by US forces.
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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed fears the move would amount to preparation for an invasion of his country by US forces.