Manning expected to meet V'zuela President tomorrow
PORT SPAIN
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Petroleumworldtt.com
03 24 09
Prime Minister Patrick Manning is expected to go to Venezuela to meet Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez tomorrow, sources said yesterday.
Sources revealed this while dismissing the view that the Prime Minister was blanked by Chavez, when he did not meet with him on Saturday at the end of Manning's whirlwind Latin American tour.
A source stated that the Saturday meeting was cancelled at "very short notice". It is understood that the meeting was called off around eight o' clock on Friday night.
Noting that Chavez was dealing with a serious internal political problem at that time, the source said: "There was a perfectly valid reason (why Chavez did not meet the Prime Minister). And he (Chavez) said any day this week."
The source said Manning could not go yesterday or today and therefore was expected to leave tomorrow for Venezuela.
Reports out of Caracas yesterday stated that Chavez had despatched the navy to Venezuela's seaports, warning that state governors who challenge a new law bringing transportation hubs under federal control could be jailed.
Last week, Manning left Trinidad and Tobago for six countries, including Venezuela, on a "peace-keeping tour" to "try to minimise undue contention" between Latin American countries and the United States during the Fifth Summit of the Americas. But the visit to Venezuela had to be cancelled because Chavez was unavailable.
Opposition Leader Basdeo Panday told the Express yesterday he did not know the "real reason" why the meeting did not come off. He said based on newspaper reports, the reason given was that Chavez was busy with "other work".
"However, I do find that a bit strange because I don't think 'other work' could be so important that one could not spare, say, an hour, to meet with the Prime Minister. So it's got to be some other reason, something deeper than that," Panday said.
Panday said when he saw on one of the television stations that Chavez has referred to Obama as a fool, he wondered whether there was a connection between this statement and the refusal to meet with Manning.
"I don't know if that means that Chavez would not be coming (for the Summit)," Panday said.
Panday said if he were Chavez, he would take offence at the idea of any prime minister coming to tell him how to behave at the Summit.
Story
by
Ria Taitt
from Trinidad & Tobago
Express
Trinidad & Tobago Express
Tuesday, March 24th 2009
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