The Rag Blog: Chavez - Just Callin' It Like It Is

05 March 2007

Chavez - Just Callin' It Like It Is

Chavez Calls U.S. Envoy 'Professional Killer'
By ELIZABETH M. NUNEZ
AP, Reuters

CARACAS, Venezuela (March 4) - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday said he believes enemies including the CIA are out to kill him, and called U.S. diplomat John Negroponte a "professional killer."

Chavez said Venezuelan officials have intelligence that associates of jailed Cuban anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles also are involved in plotting to assassinate him.

He said the death plot idea has "gained weight" due to various factors, including the recent appointment of Negroponte, the former director of national intelligence, as deputy to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice .

"Who did they swear in ... there at the White House as deputy secretary of state? A professional killer: John Negroponte," Chavez said.

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