Ahmadinejad receives warm welcome in Bolivia and Venezuela

25 November 2009

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has arrived in Venezuela for talks with President Hugo Chávez, just hours after the Iranian leader stopped in La Paz for a meeting with Bolivian leader Evo Morales. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro welcomed Ahmadinejad at the airport. A gathering of Iranian businessmen representing 70 companies prepared the ground in Venezuela's capital Caracas on Monday for trade discussions. "We have a solid foundation, a solid base that we have created over this decade in our relationship, and it shows how false are the attacks of the world empire," Maduro said on Monday, referring to the United States in comments broadcast by Venezuelan state television.

Venezuela's Jewish community expressed displeasure over Ahmadinejad's visit, issuing a statement calling the Iranian leader an "ominous" person who, if not stopped, "could cause serious harm to humanity." His visit "gives legitimacy to a regime about which there are serious doubts over its transparency and legality," the Confederation of Jewish Asssociations in Venezuela (CAIV) said in a statement.

In Bolivia, Ahmadinejad and Morales issued a joint statement saying that all nations had the right to pursue nuclear energy for peaceful ends. Earlier this week, the Iranian president had paid a controversial visit to Brazil. The ‘New York Times’ reports that US President Barack Obama wrote a long letter to his Brazilian counterpart Lula da Silva expressing his expectation that Lula would use his meeting with Ahmadinejad to express support for the international efforts to forge a compromise on Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

WJC and the Iranian threat