CARACAS, (Reuters) – President Hugo Chavez yesterday accused the Netherlands of planning “aggression” against Venezuela by allowing U.S. troops access to Dutch islands off the Caribbean coast of the OPEC nation.
“I am accusing the Kingdom of the Netherlands, along with the Yankee empire, of preparing aggression against Venezuela,” Chavez said at a meeting with leftist groups in Copenhagen, which was broadcast on Venezuelan state television.
Chavez, in the Danish capital to attend climate talks, is embroiled in a dispute with neighbour Colombia over a deal to give the United States more access to its military bases. The former soldier says Washington fears his socialist government and is surrounding Venezuela.
Chavez said the self-governing Dutch islands were located in Venezuelan territorial waters. The Dutch Embassy in Caracas was not immediately available for comment.
The United States has long had a military presence on the islands of Curacao and Aruba, with about 250 Air Force crew and ground staff involved in counternarcotics and surveillance operations over the Caribbean.
Anglo-Dutch oil giant Royal Dutch Shell operates a lubricants plant and a joint venture with Venezuela’s state oil company PDVSA in the western Lake Maracaibo oil fields in the South American nation, according to Shell’s website.
Chavez did not say why he was accusing the Netherlands of preparing aggression now. He also mentioned the reactivation last year of the U.S. Navy Fourth Fleet, which was disbanded in 1950.
The Fourth Fleet patrols the coasts of Latin America.
Colombia yesterday demanded Venezuela hunt down and extradite around 15 guerrilla chiefs it says have taken refuge across the border.
