Western Hemisphere
President Hugo Chávez claimed that his government would never spy on other nations, as he claimed the Colombian Administrative Department of Security (DAS) actually does, and attributed "much of the violence" that hits Venezuela to the neighbor country.

"The violence that hits Venezuela largely comes from Colombia. It is the result of the Colombian conflict spilling over. Look at what happened at the border," Chávez said during a ceremony commemorating the first anniversary of Venesat-1 (Simón Bolívar) satellite's launch. Reference was made to the kidnapping and murder of eight Colombians, one Venezuelan and one Peruvian in western Táchira state.

The President tied said case to the "abductions, murders and the practice of hiring hit men," which according to him come from Colombia "and were unknown in Venezuela in the past."

Chávez termed "painful" the fact that Colombian intelligence agents are spying on Venezuela. "They are in jail and we will prosecute them. We have no choice. We would never send spies to other nations. We do our work here. We receive reports from our embassy; we do different things, but we do not send spies abroad," Chávez insisted.

He stressed that DAS agents tried to bribe Venezuelan officials "but they did not accept any money. This is a regrettable event. The United States is acting behind the scenes."

Message to Obama
Chávez added that he had sent a message to his US counterpart Barack Obama. The bearer of the message is actor Sean Penn, with whom he met this week.

"Tell him (Obama) that he can win the Nobel Peace Prize if he removes the (US) military bases in Colombia (...) I am ready and willing to talk about peace in Colombia with Obama or anybody else. I would talk with the devil himself if I had to," he said. "They (the Venezuelan opposition) are much more dangerous for our country than 20 or 30 years ago, because they are full of hatred, bitterness and poison," he added.

From the headquarters of state-run telecommunications company Cantv, once again Chávez asked people to save water and electricity.

Translated by Gerardo Cárdenas

María Lilibeth Da Corte
EL UNIVERSAL