United States President Barack Obama is ”lost in the Andromeda” galaxy on Latin American policy, his chief critic in the region, Venezuelan leader Hugo Chávez, said on Sunday, while demanding the closure of US military bases.
Last week Obama said critics of US involvement in Latin America who are now asking Washington to do more to restore the ousted president of Honduras ”can’t have it both ways”.
”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,” Chávez 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.
Chávez repeated an accusation that the US 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 US base in Honduras.
Despite Chávez’s frequent tirades against US imperialism, the US remains the main client for Venezuelan oil, though the Opec country is gradually increasing sales to other countries, especially China.
Chávez, who expelled the US ambassador to Venezuela at the end of the Bush administration but allowed him back when Obama took office, said he still believes Obama has good intentions.
Obama has promised to improve US relations with Latin America. US officials say his administration will put more effort into ties with the region to counter Chávez’s growing influence.
The leftist Venezuelan leader is furious, however, at a US security agreement with Colombia that will give the Pentagon access to seven Colombian military bases. Chávez has cut trade with his neighbour as a reprisal.
The US 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. Chávez says a larger US troop presence risks sparking war in the region.
Venezuela is planning to beef up its army by buying tanks and other weapons from Russia, Chávez said, adding that his country needs to be prepared for an attack.
Chávez claims the US wants to control Venezuela’s huge oil reserves as well as the Amazon region.
”This is just the start of an imperial military expansion,” Chávez said of the US-Colombian security arrangement.
Chávez asked Obama to withdraw US forces from the Palmerola air base in Honduras (also known as Soto Cano) and from Guantanamo Bay which the US Navy has used as a base in Cuba for more than a century.
”Until when? Get with it Obama, get with it brother,” Chávez said. — Reuters