[NYTr] Chavez accuses US of role in violent protests in Bolivia

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via Int'l Herald Tribune - Sep 9, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/09/09/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-Bolivia.php

Venezuela's Chavez accuses US of role in violent protests in Bolivia

by The Associated Press

Caracas, Venezuela: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday
accused the U.S. government of having a hand in violent protests that
are stalling constitutional reforms in Bolivia.

As he met visiting Bolivian President Evo Morales at the airport in
eastern Puerto Ordaz, Chavez accused "fascists" in the Bolivian
"oligarchy" of trying to sabotage the work of an assembly rewriting
Bolivia's constitution.

The violent protests have prompted the assembly to call a monthlong
recess in hopes of rescuing the new charter, one of Morales' central
reforms.

Chavez said that behind Morales' Bolivian opponents is "the hand of the
empire of the United States, the hand of the imperialist government of
George Bush. We haven't the slightest doubt."

U.S. officials have repeatedly denied Chavez's claims that Washington is
trying to topple him and other allied leftist leaders in Latin America.

Over the last week a small group of university students has repeatedly
clashed with police in the southern Bolivian city of Sucre, burning
tires and trying to seize the historic theater housing the assembly.

Protesters demanding the relocation of Bolivia's capital have
threatened to shutter the assembly, convened by Morales to draw up a
new constitution granting a greater voice to the country's indigenous
majority.

Chavez said Morales had called him recently and asked to visit. The two
leaders planned to discuss energy-related accords, among other subjects.