MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Rio Group confirms support for Haiti and Chavez

The Foreign and Deputy ministers of the Rio Group kicked off a two-day extraordinary meeting at Bariloche tourist centre in Argentina's Patagonia, following postponement of the Rio Summit of their presidents.

The Argentine Foreign Ministry said the central topic will be the situation in Haiti, where many member countries have contributed troops to the UN multinational peacekeeping mission.

"Institutional normalization together with the registration process for the coming elections are essential for Haiti's stability and regional peace", said Argentine Foreign Affairs minister Rafael Bielsa.

The first meeting of top representatives from the 19 member countries of the Rio Group was attended by Organization American States (OAS) Secretary General, José Miguel Insulza, and the UN representative for Haiti, Juan Gabriel Valdés.

Other issues under discussion will be the strengthening of the group and a common position for the Summit of the Americas, promoted by the United States and to be held in Mar del Plata on Argentina's South Atlantic coast on November 4-5.

The Rio Group presidential meeting was postponed due to the inability of some heads of state to attend. It is now likely to be held in December, diplomatic sources said.

One of the first statements from the meeting was in support of Venezuela following US preacher Pat Robertson's call to kill president Hugo Chavez.

The Group said it expects "legal actions" to be taken against the former US presidential candidate closely linked to the extreme right of the Republican Party who said "US does not need another 200 billion US dollars war to get rid of a violent dictator that is bankrupting his country. It's much cheaper to send undercover agents to do the job".

Mr. Robertson later apoligized in his oficial web site but insisted in comparing Mr. Chavez with former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.

The Rio Group is made up of Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Dominican Republic, Uruguay, and Venezuela, and Guyana as representative of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). However, only eleven of the nineteen members are present at the current meeting in Bariloche.