Chavez Denies Uranium Shipments to the Middle East

The president of Venezuela denied yesterday that his country had shipped uranium to the Middle East to be used in a bomb, the Associated Press reported

“Now they are saying that I'm sending uranium to make atomic bombs from here, from Venezuela's Amazonas, to send it directly to the Persian Gulf,” President Hugo Chavez said.

The president accused U.S. newspapers of taking part in a Washington-directed campaign to make him out to be a dictator and Venezuela a rogue nation.

“They have no limits in their capacity to make up lies, to attack our country, of course, it's part of an imperialist plan,” he said.

Chavez, in 1999 since 1999, has developed relationships with several Middle Eastern countries, including Iran. Cooperation agreements between the two have drawn concern from Washington, according to AP (Associated Press, March 8).