[NYTr] Ahmadinejad bolsters Iranian ties with Bolivia, Nicaragua

[All the News That Doesn't Fit]

AP via The International Herald Tribune - Sep 28, 2007
http://www.iht.com/bin/print.php?id=7670213

Ahmadinejad bolsters Iranian ties with Bolivia and Nicaragua

The Associated Press

CARACAS: On a trip to strengthen ties with leftists in Latin America
and roll back U.S. influence, the Iranian president, Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, has pledged to invest $1 billion in Bolivia and reaffirmed
relations with the Venezuelan president with a declaration that "no one
can defeat us."

Ahmadinejad announced the pledge Thursday in La Paz, then traveled to
Venezuela. The investment in Bolivia, to be made over the next five
years, would help the country tap its vast natural gas reserves,
extract minerals, generate more electricity and finance agricultural
and construction projects. Evo Morales, the president of Bolivia, who
along with Chávez is one of Iran's major allies, called Ahmadinejad's
visit historic as La Paz and Tehran established diplomatic relations
for the first time.

Morales pledged that they "will work together from this day on, for our
people, for life and for humanity."

Later on Thursday in Venezuela, Ahmadinejad and Chávez greeted each
other warmly on a red carpet in front of the presidential palace.

"Together we are surely growing stronger," Ahmadinejad said through an
interpreter, "and in truth no one can defeat us. Imperialism has no
other option: Respect the peoples or accept defeat."

Chávez embraced the Iranian president, calling him "one of the greatest
anti-imperialist fighters" and "one of the great fighters for true
peace."

In his defiant speech to the UN General Assembly this week, Ahmadinejad
rebuked "arrogant powers" seeking to restrict the Iranian nuclear
program. Chávez also strongly defends Iran's nuclear research,
insisting that it is for peaceful energy use despite U.S. suspicions
that it is aimed at making nuclear weapons.

During Ahmadinejad's visit to Bolivia, Morales brushed off concerns
about close ties to a country that Washington says is a sponsor of
terrorism, declaring that the "international community can rest assured
that Bolivia's foreign policy is dedicated to peace with equality and
social justice."

Ahmadinejad's trip underscored his growing ties to Latin American
nations, including Nicaragua and Ecuador, even as the United States
tries to isolate him internationally. The closer ties are viewed with
alarm by the opposition in Venezuela and Bolivia and by Washington.
Representative Connie Mack, a Florida Republican, said they reminded
him "of the relationship that Fidel Castro had with Russia." He urged
Washington to reach out more to a region that analysts say it has
largely ignored since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Toward that goal, bipartisan legislation was to be introduced in
Washington on Friday that would establish a 10-year, $2.5 billion
program to reduce poverty and expand the middle class in Latin America.

Copyright © 2007 The International Herald Tribune