Venezuela's Chavez wants to see a united PSUV coming out of weekend congress

Addressing delegates to the extraordinary congress of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), President Chavez lambasted the cynical remarks of Colombian Foreign Minister, Jaime Bermudez who said he was disappointed in the silence shown by the South American Union of Nations (Unasur) to President Chavez' war-mongering discourse.

During his address, the President read out the latest article written by Fidel Castro and dilly-dallied over using a phrase to describe Bermudez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe but in the end he decided to call them "losers." Union Radio news agency immediately splashed the headlines: Chavez calls Uribe a loser. However, the phrase used in Spanish, "desgraciados" conveys a stronger meaning.

The President was careful to distinguish between the Colombian people, whom he calls "the sons and daughters of Simon Bolivar" and Uribe dubbed a traitor like Francisco Santander, promoter of the breakup of Bolivar's Gran Colombia.

Chavez called on delegates to ensure that the Congress ended in greater unity and he said that while he accepted the existence of tendencies within the party, he would not accept personal agendas and ambitions. One of the first tasks he suggested to delegates leaving the Congress was to gather up the many Venezuelans who joined the PSUV but did not connect with the patrol structure.

At the congress, which has unofficially already started, delegates will approve party statutes and other legal matters but the main thrust of the Congress will be to assess the seven strategic lines of the Simon Bolivar National Project (2007-2021), which are: a new socialist ethic, socialist productive model, revolutionary democratic protagonism (popular power), supreme social happiness, new national geopolitics, new international geopolitics and Venezuela as an energy power.

The 772 elected delegates will also discuss a document drawn up by the national directorate on international relations and regional integration.

Finally, the Congress will end debating guidelines on how to approach the upcoming parliamentary elections for the National Assembly.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
news.editor@vheadline.com