(23 Sep 1999) Spanish/Nat
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has spoken of his support for the faltering peace process in Colombia.
Speaking in Washington, he said he felt the need to help the neighbouring country find the road to peace.
Chavez, in New York and Washington this week, has been trying to assure investors and world leaders that his radical reforms do not pose a threat to democracy.
In April this year, Chavez won a referendum to revise Venezuela's constitution and create a new constitutional assembly.
Since coming to power last December, Chavez has embarked on a series of reforms aimed at overhauling a corrupt political system that has impoverished most Venezuelans over the years, despite the country's oil wealth.
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"As the leadership of (Colombian) President Pastrana has expressed the desire to talk, to try and find peace and this has been said by guerrilla leaders, and the fact that they have started talking, I feel the need to help them to reach the path towards peace. (Cutaway) Of course we talked about this with President Clinton and with Congress. We are facilitating this process in accordance with the wishes of both sides. We have even offered Venezuelan territory to assist in their talks. Today, a group from the National Liberation Army (E-L-N) have been talking in Caracas with representatives from the social, political and religious sections of Colombian life."
SUPER CAPTION: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"We are creating institutionalised mechanisms because the worse thing that happened in Venezuela is that the mechanisms like these were destroyed by corruption. "
SUPER CAPTION: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
SOUNDBITE: (Spanish)
"I think this is the purest and biggest guarantee of the Venezuelan process. The Venezuelan people are creating their own change, (Cutaway) I am just a drop of water in this process. I am sure that if this drop of water, and this is just a hypothesis, this is not going to happen, if this drop were to try to create this change in a dictatorial manner, I would be overtaken."
SUPER CAPTION: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
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