Rice calls Venezuela a big problem for Western Hemisphere

Rice calls Venezuela a big problem for Western Hemisphere

Rice calls Venezuela a big problem for Western Hemisphere

WASHINGTON (AP): Venezuela's close ties to Cuba and efforts to subvert democracies elsewhere make the country one of the "biggest problems'' in the Western Hemisphere, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday.

Testifying before the International Relations Committee of the House of Representatives, Rice also urged democratic nations worldwide to be "more active in supporting and defending Venezuelan people'' against actions President Hugo Chavez has taken against nongovernmental organizations and labor unions.

On Haiti, Rice pledged to work with and support the new Haitian government to be headed by former President Rene Preval, who was declared on Thursday the winner of disputed elections held Feb. 7.

The country has been bedeviled by violence and instability for two decades.

"Haiti is a country that has had too few chances,'' Rice said, noting that the administration has committed $400 million (euro337.3 million) in aid to Haiti.

Rice acknowledged that fragile democracies are a problem throughout the hemisphere and said she discussed that with top officials from Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador and Panama at a State Department dinner Tuesday night.

Rep. Eliot Engel said the United States must do more to help lift Latin America from the "grinding poverty'' in which, he said, 25 to 40 percent of the population lives.

He said it was a mistake for the United States to cut aid to Bolivia even though an avowedly anti-American, Evo Morales, took over last month as the elected president.

"Cutting development programs in Bolivia is going in the wrong direction,'' Engel said. Rice said the administration has reached out to the new Bolivian leader. While acknowledging that aid cuts have been imposed on a number of Latin American countries, she said U.S. programs are being directed increasingly at the region's poorest.

Rep. Dan Burton, chairman of the House International Relations subcommittee on Latin America, raised the Venezuelan issue with Rice. He alleged that Chavez's activities are generating misgivings among presidents throughout Latin America.

He also took note of Venezuela's increasing friendship with Iran, pointing out that Iranian parliament speaker Gholam Ali Haddad Adel made an official visit to Venezuela on Wednesday.

Rice said Venezuela's recent support for the leftist Sandinista party in Nicaragua "was producing a situation where the democratic government could not function.''

In response, she said the United States froze the assets and revoked the visas of some Sandinista officials.

During his seven years in power, Chavez's critics have described him as a populist, a path that Rice said is doomed to fail.

"The best thing we can do is to have an alternative to Latin brand of populism that has taken countries down the drain,'' Rice said. U.S. options include more free trade agreements and more aid to the most vulnerable, she said.

Much of Chevez's support in Venezuela is derived from poor neighborhoods, where his government has increased social services sharply.

Criticizing Chavez's policies on another front, Rice said the Venezuelan civil society group Sumate is being subjected to "kangaroo court'' treatment.

Sumate describes itself as a vote monitoring group. The government has charged that Sumate conspired against Venezuela's interests by accepting money from the congressionally supported National Endowment for Democracy, which supports pro-democracy groups worldwide.

The trial against Sumate officials began last week.