VENEZUELA: Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad welcomed to Venezuela by President Hugo Chavez

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad arrived in Venezuela on Sunday (September 17) with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez by his side. The two leaders are meeting after spending a week in Cuba at the Non-Aligned Summit, where Washington's biggest enemies from Cuba to North Korea, called on developing nations to challenge U.S. dominance. Chavez warmly welcomed the Iranian leader. "Welcome Mr. President to this land. From the Caribbean, from the Amazon, the Atlantic and the Andes, welcome to Venezuela where Iran is loved, to this place where a revolution begins," said Chavez at the airport. The two heads of state have had a warm relationship since Ahmadinejad came to power last year. Chavez has loudly and clearly supported Iran's drive to start a nuclear programme. "The collaboration and cooperation between Venezuela and Iran, between the government of Venezuela and Iran and between the Iranian and Venezuelan people surely will benefit all the people of the world and will be against injustice and oppression," said Ahmadinejad. This is Ahmadinejad's first trip to Venezuela and he highlighted Iran's backing for the fellow OPEC country's bid for a UN Security Council seat that Chavez would use to challenge Washington's campaign for international sanctions against Tehran. Chavez, who Washington calls a destabilizing, anti-democratic force, cast the visit as two countries jointly defying what he says is the imperialist aggression of the world's only superpower. Buoyed by high oil prices that underpin their popularity at home and tapping into anti-American sentiment around the world, both presidents are awkward foes for the United States. Iran established an Islamic republic after a 1979 revolution that ousted a U.S.-backed leader and Chavez says he is creating his own revolution to overturn capitalist and U.S. influence in the South American country. Iranian-Venezuelan ties have previously focused almost exclusively on cooperation as major oil exporters, but the two leaders emphasized their new bond in standing up to America. Ahmadinejad's two-day stop in Venezuela is sandwiched between a trip to Cuba for the summit of Non-Aligned Movement countries, which called on developing nations to challenge U.S. dominance, and a visit to the United Nations in New York. At the world body's general assembly, Ahmadinejad will lobby for Iran's right to develop nuclear programs it says are for peaceful power generation despite Washington's assertion Tehran is trying to build an atomic weapon. Chavez will press for a Security Council seat against a U.S. campaign supporting Venezuela's rival, Guatemala.

ITN Source | September 18, 2006

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