Gaddafi thanks Venezuela’s Chavez for support

CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez  yesterday read excerpts of a letter sent to him by Libya’s  Muammar Gaddafi expressing gratitude for strong support during  the NATO-backed rebellion against his government.

“You know the magnitude of the conspiracy against my  country,” Chavez read from the letter. “Your criteria has been  clear and explicit, we hope to continue with the strength of  that support.”      Chavez only read parts of the message, which was handed to  his foreign minister in Caracas by Libyan Finance Minister  Abdulhafid Zlitni. It was not immediately clear why such a  high-level official had delivered the letter.

“Long live Muammar Gaddafi,” Chavez said in a televised  address before lashing out at Western powers for recognizing  the rebel National Transition Council.

“NATO is an embarrassment,” he said, sporting a newly  close-shaved haircut to lessen the impact of hair loss from  chemotherapy treatments for cancer.

“We do not recognize the pantomime of transition that  violates and destroys the basis of international law.”

Holding firm despite growing international isolation and  crippling financial sanctions, Gaddafi has sought to play on  potential divisions by calling on tribes and soldiers in  rebel-controlled areas to rise up and free their cities.