Chavez: Venezuela wants to cooperate with next US president

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
President Hugo Chavez said Saturday he wants to work together with the next US president and that Venezuela and the United States should cooperate to resolve problems including world hunger, energy shortages and climate change. But Chavez also warned that George W. Bush "will be much more dangerous during the last months that he has left" in the White House, and accused the outgoing US president of attempting to orchestrate his assassination or spur a military rebellion in Venezuela. "Whoever is the next president of the United States, I'd like start preparing the way to start working together," said Venezuela's socialist leader. By cooperating, both countries could "help save the world from the food crisis, energy crisis and climate crisis," he added. Chavez, a former paratroop commander, warned his supporters that US officials and radical anti-government groups in Venezuela "are trying to create discontent in the military ranks, using retired military officers to make contacts in the barracks to bring about a coup."