Ambassador Oliver Stone? Sean Penn? Hugo Ch谩vez offers up his wish list.
Venezuelan leader Hugo Ch谩vez, in the midst of a tiff with Washington, suggests US ambassadors he would accept: Oliver Stone, Sean Penn, Noam Chomsky, even Bill Clinton.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks during a rally after the opening session in Caracas January 5.
Carlos Garcia Rawlins/Reuters
Washington
Surely Hugo Ch谩vez doesn鈥檛 really hold out hope that President Obama would allow a foreign leader to dictate who the US sends as ambassador to his country.
But just in case, the feisty Venezuelan president 鈥� who caused a diplomatic row by refusing Mr. Obama鈥檚 first choice for Washington鈥檚 new ambassador to Caracas 鈥� has a personal short list for the job. Mr. Ch谩vez says he鈥檇 take director Oliver Stone, actor Sean Penn, linguist and philosopher (and longtime critic of US foreign policy in Latin America) Noam Chomsky, or 鈥� why not? 鈥� Bill Clinton.
Ch谩vez offered his suggestions in a televised speech Tuesday, amid a diplomatic tit-for-tat that saw the Obama administration revoke the visa of Venezuela鈥檚 ambassador to Washington last week in retaliation for Ch谩vez鈥檚 earlier rejection of Larry Palmer, a career diplomat, as US ambassador to Caracas.
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Mr. Palmer had been critical of the Ch谩vez government in his Senate confirmation testimony, suggesting there was low morale in the Venezuelan military and hinting at Venezuelan meddling in next-door-neighbor Colombia on behalf of leftist guerrillas.
Ch谩vez 鈥� a leftist-populist whose authoritarian tendencies and cozying up to world leaders like Cuba鈥檚 Fidel Castro and Iran鈥檚 Mahmoud Ahmadinejad have won him no points in Washington 鈥� suggested that Obama had a deep pool of potential candidates to chose from who would also be to his liking. 鈥淲e have a lot of friends there鈥� in the US, he said in his speech.
Ch谩vez鈥檚 suggestion of Bill Clinton may have popped into his head as a result of his brief but cordial meet-and-greet with Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton Saturday at the inauguration of Brazil鈥檚 new president, Dilma Rousseff.
Ch谩vez, who has made long and folksy 鈥渃onversations with the people鈥� a trademark of his 12 years in power, also revealed in his speech that his 鈥渧ery bad English鈥� led him to inquire of Secretary Clinton, 鈥淗ow is your wife?鈥�
That, and not the sparring over an ambassadorship, would seem to explain the hearty laughter the two shared in Brasilia.
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