Argentina, Venezuela strengthen ties

Argentina, Venezuela strengthen ties

	Published : Thu, 22 Feb 2007 18:31 By : Agencies Print this Story

EL TIGRE, Venezuela (AP) - Argentina's president pledged on Wednesday to deepen ties with Venezuela, snubbing a U.S. diplomatic effort to counter the influence of leftist President Hugo Chavez in South America.

President Nestor Kirchner offered wholehearted support to Chavez less than two weeks after meeting with top U.S. State Department officials who expressed concern that the Venezuelan leader was steering his country toward authoritarianism.

'It cannot be that it bothers anyone that our nations become integrated,' Kirchner said during a one-day visit to Venezuela in which the two countries signed a series of economic cooperation agreements.

In a visit partly seen as an attempt to counter Chavez, President Bush plans to travel to several Latin American countries next month, including Brazil, Uruguay, Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico.

Last year, Chavez called Bush the 'devil' in a speech to the United Nations and said the podium reeked of sulphur. He took a similar jab at Bush on Wednesday.

Chavez, whose country is a major supplier of oil to the U.S., held up a flask of heavy crude and mixed a bit of it with sulphur in another flask. He said he would send it to Brazil's president ahead of the visit by Bush.

'I'm going to send this little jar to Lula so that when the little gentleman (Bush) comes, he puts it there in Brasilia,' Chavez said, chuckling.

During a visit to Argentina earlier this month, U.S. Undersecretary of State Nicholas Burns said the United States could work with left-leaning governments like Argentina and Brazil but that Venezuela was 'another matter.'

'Much has been said recently that ... in (Brazilian) President (Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva) Lula's case or in my case that we had to contain President Chavez -- an absolute error,' Kirchner said.

The Argentine leader called Chavez a 'brother and a friend' and said his country would keep nurturing ties with Venezuela. Argentine officials signed a series of accords Wednesday, including pledges to help Venezuela develop its farming industry and explore for oil.

Kirchner said Argentina and Venezuela also have agreed to jointly issue a new 'Bond of the South' for $1.5 billion, on top of $1 billion in bonds issued together by the two countries last year.

'They have failed and will fail -- the travelers from the North who are coming to the South to try to divide us, to sow discord,' Chavez said.