Chavez: Venezuela not seeking conflict with U.S.

[XXPANTHAXX]

Thu May 26, 2005 10:50 PM ET
By Pascal Fletcher

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela is ready to discuss
its differences with the United States, President Hugo Chavez
said on Thursday in remarks that seemed to soften his recent
warning that relations were at risk.

The left-wing leader, who often spars verbally with
Washington, warned on Sunday he would review ties with the
United States if it failed to extradite a Cuban exile wanted
by Caracas for the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner.

"OK, we have differences, but let's talk about them," Chavez
said on Thursday, referring to Venezuela's relationship with
its main oil client, which has soured badly in the last few
years.

"We don't want major conflicts with anyone, not even the
United States," he told a meeting of local businessmen.

The latest case to strain U.S.-Venezuelan ties involves Luis
Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative and anti-communist
militant whom Chavez wants extradited to Venezuela to face
trial for the 1976 plane bombing that killed 73 people.

Later on Thursday in Caracas, a U.S. diplomat said the U.S.
government had still not received a formal extradition
request from Venezuela for Posada, only a request for his
preventive arrest.

"Venezuela is protesting over a lack of reply by the United
States to an extradition request it has not yet presented,"
U.S. Deputy Chief of Mission Stephen McFarland said in an
interview with Venezuelan state television.

Posada, a lifelong foe of Cuban President Fidel Castro, is
being held by U.S. immigration authorities for illegally
entering the United States. Castro is a close ally of Chavez.

Posada has denied involvement in the Cuban airline bombing.
He is due to appear before a U.S. immigration court in June.

In Washington, Venezuelan Ambassador to the United States
Bernardo Alvarez said the 700-page Venezuelan extradition
request was still being translated into English, but he added
Caracas had made clear it sought Posada.

McFarland said any extradition request from Venezuela would
have to be considered "legally, not politically."

He said Venezuela had the sovereign right to discontinue its
relations with the United States if it chose, but he said
this would be a pity. Washington, he said, had "no interest
in diminishing its relations with Venezuela."

"Only President Chavez has mentioned this," he added.

Chavez, an outspoken critic of U.S. policies, did not speak
of Posada on Thursday.

He said he held a cordial meeting on Monday with a delegation
of U.S. congressional lawmakers, including Indiana Republican
Rep. Dan Burton.

"Burton himself said to me, 'There's no reason why we can't
talk,"' said Chavez, who added he wanted "normal, respectful"
relations with the United States.

But Chavez blamed Washington for the deterioration of ties.
He has called President Bush a menace to world peace for the
wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.

U.S. officials criticize Chavez's friendship with Castro and
say he is stirring up anti-U.S. leftist "revolution" in Latin
America. They say they fear he is trying to repeat in
Venezuela what they call the "failed model" of Communist
Cuba.