In an interview shown in the past week on the Spanish-language network Univision, U.S. President-elect Barack Obama said that Venezuela's firebrand president, Hugo Chavez, has hindered progress in Latin America, and he expressed concern that Chavez's leftist government has assisted Colombia's biggest guerrilla movement, a group the United States considers a terrorist organization. Chavez responded this weekend by saying that Obama had "the same stench" as President Bush, a frequent target of Chavez's remarks."There is still time" for Obama to correct his views, the Venezuelan leader said, but he added: "No one should say that I threw the first stone at Obama. He threw it at me."
The interview with the president-elect, shown in two segments that aired Sunday and last Tuesday, included Obama's most extensive comments to date about Venezuela, Cuba and Mexico -- countries that are expected to require swift attention from the new administration. Mexico is convulsed by drug violence that is spilling into the United States; Cuba's longtime leader, Fidel Castro, is suffering from a serious undisclosed illness; and Chavez's government is reinforcing ties with such U.S. adversaries as Iran and, authorities in Bogota say, Colombian rebels.
Obama said his administration is open to starting talks with Chavez to improve relations, which have frayed badly since the Bush administration celebrated Chavez's brief overthrow at the hands of rebellious military officers in 2002. But in the 13-minute interview aired by Univision, Obama said Chavez had "been a force that has interrupted progress in the region."
He then raised the issue of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, a 45-year-old rebel group loathed by Colombians for carrying out selective assassinations, attacks on civilian targets and mass kidnappings. Last year, Colombian authorities released internal rebel documents that outlined how Chavez and his close allies had assisted the group in an effort to isolate Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, the Bush administration's closest ally in Latin America. The Chavez government denies it helps the FARC, as the group is known.
"We need to be firm when we see this news, that Venezuela is exporting terrorist activities or supporting malicious entities like the FARC," Obama said. "This creates problems that are not acceptable."
Chavez reacted Saturday and earlier in the week to Obama's remarks, which were seen in Venezuela on Univision's Web site. The network did not release a transcript of the interview, in which Obama's answers are simultaneously translated into Spanish.
"He said I'm an obstacle for progress in Latin America," Chavez said in a speech to supporters in Caracas. "Therefore, it must be removed, this obstacle, right?"
The Venezuelan leader said that Obama is following orders from dark forces inside "the empire," as he refers to the United States. "If he doesn't obey the orders of the empire, they'll kill him," Chavez said, without offering details or proof.
According to a script repeated in Chavez's frequent speeches, the United States has a diabolical plan to topple his government and steal the country's immense oil reserves. The Venezuelan government accuses leading opponents of being in on the plan.
