25/09/09
President Chávez Urges President Obama to Call Peace Conference

In a meeting in New York with a number of union members, the president of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez Frías, urged his U.S. counterpart Barack Obama to call for a peace conference.

“Wake up Obama, open your eyes. If you say that you are in favor of peace, don’t send more soldiers to Colombia. No more wars, no more bombs,” said Chavez.

The Venezuelan leader pointed out that the installation of seven U.S. military bases in Colombia is unnecessary, saying:  “We are going to call a peace conference. If you all support the war, more people will die in Colombia.”

The Unifying Process in Latin America Cannot Be Stopped

“The installation of seven U.S. military bases in Colombia and the coup d’état in Honduras are factors attempting to restrain the unity sweeping the American continent, but that process cannot be stopped,” stated Chávez.

Likewise, the U.S. military bases to be installed on Colombian territory have generated reactions from the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR), a regional organization.

“This would never have happened before. When there were coups d’état, invasions or attacks against brother nations, [Latin American] governments kept quiet and complicit. Now we meet -even the right-wing governments- each with their own viewpoint. All of them have been raising their voices against the military bases, for example, because Colombia is a brother nation.”

Bolivarian News Agency, Press Unit of the Embassy of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the United States, September 24, 2009.