US expels Venezuelan consul general

[mojo]

The United States has declared Venezuela's consul general in Miami persona non grata and said she must leave the country by Tuesday.

The diplomat, Livia Acosta Noguera, is alleged to have discussed possible cyber-attacks on the US while based at the Venezuelan embassy in Mexico in 2008.

The FBI has been investigating the comments, AP news agency says.

The US state department did not comment on the reason for the expulsion.

A spokesman said the decision was taken in accordance with Article 23 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations.

Four US members of Congress had written to the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in December raising concerns about the diplomat.

The letter said that according to a documentary broadcast on the Spanish-language network Univision last month, Ms Acosta Noguera had discussed attacking the US government's computer systems with diplomats from the Iranian and Cuban embassies and students posing as extremists, while she was vice secretary at Caracas's embassy in Mexico.

The congressmen asked the State Department to investigate the claims, and if it found them to be true, "declare her a persona non grata and require her immediate departure from the United States".

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez made no reference to the expulsion in his weekly broadcast, Alo Presidente, which has resumed after a seven-month pause during which he underwent treatment for cancer.

However he did accuse Washington of "inventing" plots by Iran to attack the US with help from Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is due to arrive in Venezuela later on Sunday for his fifth visit to the country, at the start of a week-long trip to Latin America.

Source: BBC

[mojo]

Iran, Venezuela call U.S. a global danger 
 
Amid escalating tensions in the Persian Gulf and a growing diplomatic squabble in the Americas, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad received a red carpet welcome in Venezuela Monday as he kicked off a four-nation Latin American tour that is raising concerns in Washington, D.C.

Ahmadinejad’s visit, which will also take him to Nicaragua, Cuba and Ecuador, comes a day after the U.S. Department of State confirmed that Venezuela’s consul in Miami was asked to leave the country amid reports that she took part in a 2008 discussion about a potential cyber-attack against the United States.

It also comes the same day Iran was accused of stepping up its efforts to enrich uranium, and Iran’s courts announced a former U.S. Marine was condemned to death on spying charges.

Calling Ahmadinejad his “real brother,” Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said the two nations had to stand together against the United States and her allies.

“We didn’t ask for this task, but it’s our duty to stop the crazed imperialism that is stronger than ever before,” he said. “It’s a danger to the world — these pretensions of the Yankee Empire to control the globe.”

Wow... just wow man.

Here is the full article (Source: The Miami Herald)

[mojo]

Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad Venezuela's Hugo Chavez taunt US over 'big atomic bomb'

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Venezuela's Hugo Chavez joked about having "a big atomic bomb" and mocked US disapproval during a meeting between the two allies in Caracas.

Despite their geographical distance, the two countries have forged increasingly close ties, a lot of which is down to their shared anti-Americanism, although concrete projects have often lagged behind the rhetoric.
"One of the targets that Yankee imperialism has in its sights is Iran, which is why we are showing our solidarity," Chavez said during a joint press conference. "That hill will open up and a big atomic bomb will come out," he said of a hill next to his Miraflores Palace.
"When we meet, the devils go crazy," he said, mocking US warnings that Latin American nations should not help the Islamic Republic.
Ahmadinejad concurred: "Despite those arrogant people who do not wish us to be together, we will unite forever," he said.
The two men hugged, beamed, held hands and showered each other with praise. "President Chavez is the champion in the war on imperialism," Ahmadinejad said.

Source: msnbc.com, BusinessWeek, TIME, Fox News, Telegraph.co.uk