Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez refused Monday to condemn Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi and warned the United States was preparing an invasion of the North African country to seize control of its oil reserves. "We must be prudent. We know what our political line is: We don't support invasions, or massacres, or anything like that no matter who does it. A campaign of lies is being spun together regarding Libya," said Chavez, in a televised speech to a crowd of graduates who had just...

The US government will take action if Venezuela violates international sanctions meted out to Iran, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton cautioned on Tuesday. "If there is any evidence that they have violated the sanctions, we will act against them," Clinton said during the parliamentary questioning. In any event, the US Secretary of State said that so far there is no evidence that the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has been in breach of the sanctions...

Despite almost global condemnation of the violence against demonstrators in Libya, some prominent Latin Americans are standing-by Libya's Muammar al-Qaddafi, even as he declares that he'll keep fighting and will die as a 'martyr.' Nicaragua's leftist President Daniel Ortega says he has telephoned Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi on Monday to express his solidarity. Cuba's former leader Fidel Castro also weighed in on developments in the middle eastern nation on Tuesday. Castro said that unrest...

Both Libya and Venezuela on Monday denied reports that Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi was seeking asylum as a violent revolt gripped his country and would join his friend President Hugo Chavez in the South American oil producing nation. Fueling rumors in the media, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said he had seen information to suggest Gaddafi had fled Libya and was on his way to Venezuela, a fellow OPEC member. But Venezuela's information minister said Gaddafi, who has ruled Libya...

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - British Foreign Secretary William Hague said on Monday he had seen some information to suggest Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi had fled the country and was on his way to Venezuela. "You asked me earlier about whether Colonel Gaddafi is in Venezuela," he told reporters on the sidelines of a European Union foreign ministers' meeting in Brussels. "I have no information that says he is, but I have seen some information that suggests he is on his way there...

Last October, Ambassador Roger Noriega, former Assistant Secretary of State for the Western Hemisphere during the George W. Bush Administration, exposed Hugo Chávez's efforts to aid and abet Iran's illegal nuclear weapons program, including its efforts to obtain strategic minerals such as uranium and to evade international sanctions. Documentary evidence now suggests that Hugo Chavez's junior partner in Ecuador, Rafael Correa, is apparently forging his own dangerous alliance with the...

A group of members of the US House of Representatives addressed a letter to Rafael Ramírez, CEO of state-run company Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (Pdvsa), expressing their "concern" regarding reports that Pdvsa "is continuing to do business with Iran that is subject to sanctions under the provisions" of two US laws. In a letter signed by five House members dated September 24, 2010 they encouraged Ramírez "to provide a written report" that...

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas said Friday that a recent wave of nations recognizing a Palestinian state based upon 1967 borders is pressuring Israel and the U.S. to return to negotiations and reach a peace deal. Abbas, in Brazil to lay the cornerstone of a Palestinian Embassy and attend the inauguration of President-elect Dilma Rousseff, told The Associated Press in an interview that recent recognition of a Palestinian state by several Latin American nations would help push the U.S. and...

The Government of Ecuador announced today that studies the possibility that the president of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), Mahmoud Abbas, visit Ecuador in early 2011. Abbas will attend the transfer of power in Brazil, January 1, and, according to Deputy Foreign Minister of Ecuador, Kintto Lucas, it is likely that the week is happening at that time “come to Ecuador” to thank the Quito recent recognition of a Palestinian state. Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da...

The battle for Latin America between pro-Israel and pro- Palestinian factions is set to enter a new phase on Friday when Palestinians hold a cornerstone- laying ceremony for an embassy in the Brazilian capital of Brasilia, the first state-level Palestinian diplomatic mission on the continent. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to take part in the event and later attend the swearing-in ceremony of Brazilian President-elect Dilma Rousseff, AFP reported. Members of...