20481: (Chamberlain) Venezuela offers refuge to 'President Aristide' (later story) (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Greg Chamberlain <GregChamberlain@compuserve.com>

     By Pascal Fletcher

     CARACAS, Venezuela, March 16 (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez snubbed the United States and courted Caribbean sympathy on Tuesday
by offering refuge to ousted Haitian leader Jean-Bertrand Aristide, whom he
called Haiti's legitimate president.
     "We don't recognize the new government of Haiti. The president of
Haiti is called Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was elected by his people," the
left-wing Venezuelan leader said in a speech in eastern Venezuela.
     Chavez is one of the few world leaders to so categorically oppose
Aristide's recent ouster.
     "Venezuela's doors are open to President Jean-Bertrand Aristide,"
Chavez said, in what appeared to be an open-ended invitation.
     Venezuelan officials said there were no immediate plans for a visit.
"As far as I know, he hasn't asked," Foreign Minister Jesus Perez told
Reuters.
     Chavez made his offer a day after Aristide returned to the Caribbean
from exile in Africa. Aristide left Haiti on Feb. 29 in the face of an
armed revolt and U.S. pressure to quit, and he flew to Jamaica on Monday
for what Jamaican officials have said is a visit of up to 10 weeks.
     Diplomats said Chavez's welcome to the ousted Haitian president was
not surprising from a maverick leader who appears to delight in baiting
Washington while wooing his Caribbean neighbors with friendship and
preferential oil supplies.
     "It's a snub to the United States -- the good-old 'my enemies' enemies
are my friends' thing," a Caracas-based diplomat, who asked not to be
named, told Reuters.
     Although Venezuela remains a leading oil supplier to the United
States, Chavez has made a point of criticizing U.S. foreign and trade
policy and befriending anti-U.S. states such as Cuba, Iran and Zimbabwe.
     The Venezuelan president, who says Washington is trying to overthrow
him, backed allegations by Aristide that U.S. authorities deposed and
abducted him.
     "He was kidnapped by troops of the country which preaches democracy to
the world: the United States," Chavez said.
     U.S. officials, who describe Aristide's claim as nonsense, also
dismissed Chavez's reaction.
     "We are not concerned about Chavez's view on the Haitian presidency.
Everyone else in the hemisphere recognizes the new government ... "He
(Chavez) does what he does for his own reasons," a State Department
official said in Washington.
     The White House described Aristide's presence in Jamaica, just 115
miles 185 km from Haiti's shores, as unhelpful.
     The new Haitian government, led by Prime Minister Gerard Latortue, is
concerned Aristide's visit to Jamaica may stir unrest.
     Countries of the Caribbean Community regional group, of which Haiti is
a member, have called for an international inquiry into the circumstances
of Aristide's departure.
     The Caracas-based diplomat saw Chavez trying to woo support from
Caribbean states as he faces international pressure to submit to a recall
referendum at home.
     "He'd like to have some support if Venezuela gets debated in the
Organization of American States," the diplomat said.
     Chavez, a former paratrooper, was elected in 1998.
     His foes say he is trying to turn the world's No. 5 oil exporter into
another Communist Cuba. They want the OAS and foreign governments to press
him to accept a recall vote.
     Although Chavez did not recognize Haiti's new government, he said
Venezuela was offering humanitarian aid to the Caribbean country, including
fuel oil.

  (Additional reporting by Frances Kerry in Miami, Magdalena Morales in
Caracas and Saul Hudson in Washington)