Venezuela accuses U.S. envoy of provoking diplomatic row

ALEXANDRA OLSON, Associated Press Writer Thursday, May 15, 2003
(05-15) 17:08 PDT CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=www.sfgate.com>AP) --

Venezuela on Thursday accused the American ambassador of acting "irresponsibly" by hosting a conference on press freedoms during which foes of Hugo Chavez made fun of the president.

Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Venezuela would not allow the incident to further damage already rocky relations with the United States.

Ambassador Charles Shapiro hosted a gathering of Venezuelan journalism associations and unions at his residence Tuesday.

At the meeting, Shapiro expressed concern about "deteriorating press freedoms" in Venezuela, citing unpunished attacks on dozens of journalists last year. Also during the meeting, a humorist disguised as a prominent anti-Chavez journalist held up a puppet of Chavez and ridiculed the president.

"What is the purpose of putting on this show? Offend the government? Offend the president? I think it's the Venezuelan people who were offended," Rangel said.

Rangel said Venezuela would consider the event an act of "personal irresponsibility" on Shapiro's part. But he urged the United States to explain Shapiro's behavior, saying Venezuela couldn't dismiss the possibility that Washington was deliberately trying to provoke Chavez's government.

In a statement released Thursday, the U.S. embassy said it "regretted that some people felt offended" by the event.

The humorist's presentation "seemed to us in bad taste because of its political content," the statement said. "The embassy does not know in advance nor does it censure what its guests are going to say, whether it's an invited speaker or humorist."

"The words of Ambassador Shapiro, and no one else's, express the point of view of the United States embassy," it added.

Relations between the United States and Venezuela have often been tense during Chavez's four-year government.

In 2001, the Venezuelan leader criticized civilian casualties in the U.S.-led attack on Afghanistan. The leftist former paratrooper has irked Washington by strengthening ties with Cuba and Libya. In 2000, he became the first head of state to visit then-Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein after the 1991 Gulf War.

Relations also suffered after the United States initially blamed Chavez for his own downfall during an April 2002 coup that briefly ousted the Venezuelan president from office. Washington belatedly condemned the coup.

The United States is also uncomfortable with Chavez's criticism of the U.S.-led efforts to establish a free trade zone stretching from Alaska to the southern tip of South America.