MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Straw cancels visit.

The explosive situation in the Middle East has forced Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to cancel his visit to Chile that should have began this Friday.

Mr. Straw was currently in a Caribbean Commonwealth nations Forum in Georgetown, Guyana, and had to fly immediately to Great Britain for an urgent meeting of Foreign Affairs Ministers of the European Union concerning the Palestinian-Israel conflict.

However Mr. Straw who apologized for the cancellation to his Chilean counterpart, Soledad Alvear, said he was looking forward to visit the country some time in the near future.

Foreign Secretary Straw was to meet President Raúl Lagos, Soledad Alvear and Santiago's Mayor and leader of the opposition Joaquín Lavín.

His visit was interpreted as the closing chapter for the General Pinochet incident, when the former dictator was arrested and retained in Britain for over a year pending an extradition request from a Spanish Judge.

Mr Straw had a leading role at the time since he was Home Secretary in Primer Minister Blair's first government.