Venezuela denies helping Iran ship missile parts to Syria

Venezuelan FM says allegations missile components carried on Venezuelan flights part of campaign against Chavez.

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
chavez Maduro 224.88 (photo credit: AP)
chavez Maduro 224.88
(photo credit: AP)
Venezuela's foreign minister on Monday dismissed a published report claiming that Iran has been shipping missile components to Syria on Venezuelan flights. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro strongly denied Sunday's story in the Italian newspaper La Stampa, which cited intelligence sources. The foreign minister also denied a Sunday report in the Spanish daily newspaper El Mundo alleging that members of the Basque separatist group ETA had reached a pact with a Venezuelan militant group and had agreed to provide the group with training. The newspaper identified the group as the Bolivarian Forces of Liberation. Maduro said the allegations are part of a campaign against Venezuela and President Hugo Chavez. "Behind this campaign are the remnants of what's left of this administration that's on its way out of Washington," Maduro said, referring to the presidency of George W. Bush. US officials repeatedly have denied Chavez's accusations that Washington is conspiring with his opponents against him.