Venezuela Warns Washington on Robertson...

Looks like Robertson's mouth wrote a check that Bu$h's ass may have to pay for...

--ryan


Venezuela May Take Legal Action Against Pat Robertson
Ahora.cu / 30-08-2005

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has warned that Caracas will lodge an official complaint against Washington at the United Nations and other international agencies if the U.S. government fails to act against television evangelist Pat Robertson, who recently called for Chávez's assassination.

Addressing a group gathered on Sunday for talks on a social charter for the Americas, the Venezuelan leader said: "If the U.S. government does not take action that it must take, we will go to the United Nations and the Organization of American States to denounce the U.S. government." Chávez added he believed that by failing to act against Robertson, the United States was "giving protection to a terrorist, who is demanding the assassination of a legitimate president."

Last week on his television program "The 700 Club," transmitted by his Christian Broadcasting Network, Robertson said that if Chávez believed the United States was trying to kill him, "I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it." Robertson tried to apologize last Wednesday, but then went on to compare Chávez to Saddam Hussein and to suggest the United States could one day be at war with Venezuela. U.S. officials last week distanced themselves from Robertson's comments, but refused to condemn them.

The Venezuela president said he has already instructed his foreign minister and the country's ambassador to Washington to begin the process in the international bodies. He said Venezuela could use international treaties and conventions to demand the extradition of the right-ring television preacher. Chávez pointed out he believed Robertson "should be sent to prison to serve as an example for the entire world."

Meanwhile, visiting U.S. civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson expressed his solidarity with Chávez, saying Robertson's remarks were "repugnant, immoral and illegal." Addressing the Venezuelan National Assembly, Jackson called for the U.S. Justice Department to investigate the statement.

Rev. Jesse Jackson, on a three-day visit to Venezuela to meet with Chávez, politicians and community leaders, also called on U.S. President George W. Bush to issue "a swift rejection" of Robertson's statement. Rev. Jackson said: "It must be unequivocally clear that such a heinous act is not desirable nor designed nor planned. We must use power to reduce tensions, reduce the rhetoric of our threats."

(From Radio Habana Cuba)