Venezuelan Foreign Minister: Uribe’s intended lawsuit against Chavez in the ICC “laughable”

Caracas, March 4, 2008 (ABN) Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro
said that the Colombian President, who has threatened to charge the Venezuelan
Chief of State, President Hugo Chavez, in the International Criminal Court "aims to divert attention"
from his crimes of "violating the air and land space of Ecuador, and ordering
bombing of its territory."

"Uribe aims to divert public opinion from a crime he has confessed to and
been convicted of" Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolás Maduro affirmed on
Tuesday. The holder of the portfolio of Foreign Relations rejected the declarations
of the Colombian President through a communiqué emitted by the Foreign
Ministry.

Maduro specified that the initiative by the Colombian head of state to take President Chavez to the International Criminal Court is a cowardly and contemptible
response to avoid his political responsibilities. "He brandishes threats,
attacking the integrity of Hugo Chavez, based on falsifications and inventions"
the minister expressed.

He added that "the role he [Uribe] has been ordered to play by George Bush
is very sad." The Venezuelan functionary indicated that President Uribe has
"shameful conduct" consistent with the "record of his life."

The original text of the communiqué continued:

"In a cowardly and contemptible attempt to avoid his political responsibility
for the planned aggression executed against the Republic of Ecuador, Álvaro
Uribe today brandished the laughable threat of taking President Hugo Chavez to
the International Criminal Court, vilely attacking the honor of the Venezuelan
Chief of State, putting forward a crude statement based on falsifications and
inventions.

"Álvaro Uribe has been
unanimously condemned by international public opinion after ordering a cunning
and bloody attack against the territory of Ecuador, violating the fundamental
principles of international law.

"This shameful conduct is consistent with the record of the political
life of Uribe, of which is notable, his family and business links with
narco-traffickers of the ilk of Pablo Escobar Gaviria, or his role as the founder
and patron of the Colombian paramilitary organisations guilty of the most
horrendous war crimes.

"As is his custom, Uribe aims to divert public attention from a crime
he has confessed to and been convicted of: having ordered the violation of the
air and land space of Ecuador, and ordering bombing of its territory.

"The role that the
Bush government has ordered Álvaro Uribe to play against the homeland of
Bolivar is very sad.

"We thank the
political and social leaders and intellectuals of the world for their numerous
demonstrations of solidarity and support in the face of this infamy, lie and
vile accusation by this sad person that today leads Colombia."

Caracas, March 4 2008

Translated by Kiraz Janicke