Venezuela ends normalization of US relations
by alethoPress TV - July 20, 2013
Venezuela
says it has ended the process of normalizing its relations with the
United States over remarks by Washington’s ambassador-designate to the
UN.
During
her confirmation hearing before a US Senate committee on July 17,
Samantha Power claimed Venezuela, along with several other countries,
was conducting a “crackdown on civil society.”
“The
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela hereby ends the process ... of finally
normalizing our diplomatic relations” that started in early June, the
Venezuelan Foreign Ministry said in a Friday statement.
The statement added that Caracas is opposed to the “interventionist agenda” presented by Power.
On Thursday,
the Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro denounced Power’s remarks as
“outrageous,” and demanded “an immediate correction by the US
government.”
“Power
says she’ll fight repression in Venezuela? What repression? There is
repression in the United States, where they kill African-Americans with
impunity, and where they hunt the youngster Edward Snowden just for
telling the truth,” he added, referring to the killing of unarmed black
teenager Trayvon Martin.
Venezuela
has offered asylum to Snowden, an American former technical contractor
for the US National Security Agency (NSA), who is wanted in the United
States for leaking details of Washington’s secret surveillance programs.
Maduro was the first foreign leader to state openly that he was offering sanctuary to Snowden.
Venezuela
and the US have not exchanged ambassadors since 2010. However, in June
US Secretary of State John Kerry and Venezuelan Foreign Minister Elias
Jaua agreed on the sidelines of a regional summit in Guatemala that
officials would “soon” meet for talks that could lead to an exchange of
envoys.
In March, Caracas expelled two US military attaches over allegations of trying to foment instability in Venezuela.
Washington
also angered Caracas by supporting Venezuelan opposition leader
Henrique Capriles, who disputed the results of the April presidential
election, in which Maduro won the race with 50.7 percent of the vote
against 49.1 percent for Capriles.
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