Brazilian president to visit
Venezuela
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio
Lula da Silva will travel to
Venezuela on Sunday to sign a
series of cooperation accords,
the official news agency Agencia
Brasil reported.
Brazil's Foreign Ministry said
the trip is aimed at building a
strategic alliance to improve
commercial relations between
Brazil and Venezuela.
Silva is expected to meet with
his Venezuelan counterpart Hugo
Chavez in Caracas on Monday.
In Caracas, Chavez said Sunday
that he and Silva would sign 17
documents regarding oil
production and infrastructure.
"On Feb. 14 a strategic alliance
between Venezuela and Brazil
will begin, and this is of huge
importance ... not just for
Venezuela and Brazil, but for
South America's future," Chavez
said during his weekly radio and
television broadcast in
Venezuela.
The two presidents will also
discuss Venezuela's possible
purchase of jet fighters from
Brazilian jet-maker Embraer,
Empresa Brasileira de
Aeronautica SA, local media
reported.
Floods kill at least 48 in
Colombia, 25 in Venezuela
Torrential rains and mudslides
have killed at least 48 people
across Venezuela and another 25
in neighboring Colombia, forcing
more from their homes,
authorities said on Sunday.
Venezuelan rescuers struggled
over the weekend to reach the
worst-hit remote mountain
villages, while President Hugo
Chavez confirmed 18 more deaths
in the southwestern state of
Merida, raising the total death
toll to 48.
In neighboring Colombia, a state
of emergency was declared as at
least 25 people were killed and
22 others wounded in the almost
week-long floods. Three people
remained missing and 30,000
people were forced from home by
the storm.
Colombian President Alvaro Uribe
described the situation as
"dramatic" and promised the
interior, communications and
other related ministries "the
necessary resources to take care
of the people."
Chavez, who headed for the
flood-affected state of Miranda
on Saturday to give instructions
on intensified assistance for
flood victims, said his
government was seeking funds to
deal with the disaster.
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Colombian president
conditions dialogue with
guerrillas
Colombian President Alvaro
Uribe said Saturday that he
will hold a dialogue with
the guerrillas only when the
insurgents stop their
hostilities.
In a tele-conference from
the city of Cartagena, Uribe
said he is dogmatic and
inflexible in the demand of
"suspending violence, "even
if the guerrillas do not lay
down their arms.
He accused rebel leader
Erlington Chamorro of
hindering government
contacts with the National
Liberation Army (ELN).
Uribe described Chamorro as
a "saboteur of peace" who
has thwarted an agreement
with the ELN.
He said the government is
also ready to start a peace
dialogue with the other
major rebel group, the
Revolutionary Armed Forces
of Colombia (FARC), if it
ceases hostilities.
Uribe held an emergency
meeting with his military
and police commanders at
Cartagena on Saturday on
curbing the recent FARC
offensives, which have
claimed the lives of 50
soldiers in the past two
weeks.
The FARC, with at least
20,000 combatants, is the
largest rebel group in the
country. The ELN, the second
largest, has 5,000 fighters.
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