MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chavez claims US has “Balboa” plan to invade Venezuela

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez claimed to have documented evidence of United States intention of invading the country.

Interviewed by the US television net ABC "Nightline" program Mr. Chavez revealed that the code name of the alleged invasion plan is Balboa and involves aircrafts and air carriers.

President recalled that US marines recently visited the island of Curacao, to the northwest of the Venezuelan coast, and the official US excuse was that they had gone there for a rest and recovery period.

"This is totally false", underlined Mr. Chavez who insists the visiting marines were involved in military exercises and warned that Venezuela already has a counter plan for the Balboa operation. He further added that if United States militarily attacks Venezuela, "they will be involved in a century long war".

Mr. Chavez this week was in New York for the world summit of leaders in the framework of the United Nations annual General Assembly. Last Thursday he addressed the assembly and condemned United States for the Iraq war, the new "preventive attack" policy and complained bitterly that the UN reforms package was only presented to the Venezuelan delegation ten minutes before his address and in an English version.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan later apologized.

However Mr. Chavez said that if the UN continues in its current path it's condemned to disappear and proposed the seat of the UN be moved from US territory to the Southern hemisphere.

He also said that the recent hurricane Katrina tragedy had shown US public opinion and the world that United States "needs help", help to combat poverty, to help significant numbers of American citizens who have been excluded from the mainstream of society.

Mr. Chavez also accused the Bush administration of "double talk", combating world wide terrorism, "a scourge which we condemn", but at the same time protecting terrorists such as a former CIA agent which escaped from Venezuela where he was jailed for his involvement in the blowing up of a commercial Cuban airplane killing 70 people.

Furthermore an evangelist preacher Pat Robertson and "close friend of the White House" openly called on the world to kill an elected leader, the president of Venezuela, and "that is an international law crime".

During the interview Chavez offered to send ABC maps and other documents regarding the US Balboa plan to invade Venezuela but for security reasons refused to reveal his sources.

President Chavez who is involved in an ever increasing acrimonious relation with Washington has repeatedly warned that if US attacks or attempts to invade Venezuela "they can forget about oil". Venezuela is one of the US main oil suppliers.