Radio San Borondon (Canary Islands)
CARACAS, Tuesday January 10 2012: Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez has rejected the interference of the United States in the Near East, while proclaiming South America free from “North American hegemony”, in a speech at the close of a meeting with his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
At a press conference held in the Ayacucho room of the Miraflores presidential palace in Caracas, Mr Chávez warned of the US threat to Iran of accusing the Persian country of developing nuclear energy in order to pursue nuclear weapons “without having proof”.
In the same vein, he warned that the development of events in Syria, where “The United States and its allies” are asking with ever greater force that the United Nations Security Council intervene.
As an example of US interference in the region, Mr Chávez also alluded to the invasion of Iraq on the “excuse” of the existence of weapons of mass destruction, and the war in Lybia under the pretext of protecting the civilian population.
In this context, the Venezuelan president lamented that “the Arab governments kneel before the Yankee empire to ride roughshod over other Arab peoples”.
“It is sad, but it is the history of this world,” he said in a statement recorded by the Telesur satellite TV network.
In contrast, Mr Chávez emphasised the situation on South America, where the creation of regional organisations like the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) has highlighted that “in this continent North American hegemony has ended”.
“We are free,” he proclaimed
Nuclear Threat
Meanwhile, Mr Ahmadinejad described those who had interpreted his visit to Venezuela as the prelude to an attack on the United States as “ignorant”, while considering accusations that Iran intends to acquire nuclear weapons as “a joke”.
He indicated that “behind all these accusations” was hidden the fear of the “imperialist powers” that industrialisation drives the development of the peoples of the world. “They want us to be submerged in poverty so that they may dominate us,” he warned.
“They are not happy with our development, but they can get angry and choke on their rage, because I assure them that our peoples are not going to give up this effort to develop themselves,” the Iranian president underlined.
Signing Agreements
Furthermore, Mr Chávez and Mr Ahmadinejad had taken advantage of the meeting to sign a series of bilateral accords on political, industrial, scientific and technological matters, integrating them into the framework of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA).
On industrial matters they agreed to create a bi-national group, formed of four representatives from each country, to coordinate and supervise bilateral integration in the economic and productive spheres.
In science and technology, the presidents agreed to boost training and research programmes in nanoscience and nanotechnology, according to the Venezuelan News Agency (AVN).
In this context, Mr Ahmadinejad celebrated strengthening of bilateral relations while adding that “We are going to keep deepening [cooperation] until we reach our common objectives”.
“We have sat and talked about serving the people and offering prosperity to the nation,” he said.
Translated by James Tweedie