[NYTr] New US Ambassador Received by Chavez in Caracas
 
Date: Wed, 31 Oct 2007 02:33:05 -0500 (CDT)

Via NY Transfer News Collective  *  All the News that Doesn't Fit
 
excerpted from VIO Venezuela Daily News Roundup - Oct 30, 2007

[President Chavez received the new US Ambassador to Venezuela, Patrick
Duddy, at the presidential palace yesterday in Caracas.  Afterward,
Duddy told the press, "We talked about a wide range of issues and our
determination to work in some areas such as drug trafficking for the
well-being of both countries, and (to) find a way to improve
relations."   The AP reports that the meeting was a friendly one, and
that both sides have an interest in good relations, as the US is the
leading buyer of Venezuelan oil. -VIO]

AP via The Intl Herald Tribune - Oct 29, 2007
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/10/30/america/LA-GEN-Venezuela-US.php

New U.S. ambassador meets with Venezuela's Chavez

The Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela: The new U.S. ambassador to Venezuela met with
President Hugo Chavez on Monday, calling it a positive start toward
improving tense relations.

Ambassador Patrick Duddy said they discussed expanding cooperation in
areas such as counter-drug operations -- which Washington has cited as a
major concern due to the flow of cocaine passing through Venezuela from
Colombia.

"We talked about a wide range of issues and our determination to work
in some areas such as drug trafficking for the well-being of both
countries, and (to) find a way to improve relations," Duddy was quoted
as saying by the Venezuelan TV channel Globovision.

"We had a very good conversation," Duddy said later, according to the
Venezuelan newspaper El Universal. "I hope to work in this beautiful
country for the well-being of both of our sister nations. I think it
was a good start."

Duddy met Chavez to present his credentials as ambassador two months
after his arrival in Caracas, and in a photograph released by the
government the two appeared smiling as they chatted.

Duddy, a former senior official in the State Department's Latin America
bureau, replaced William Brownfield, who left in July to become the top
U.S. diplomat in neighboring Colombia.

Despite growing hostility between Chavez and the Bush administration in
recent years, the United States remains the top buyer of Venezuelan oil.

Duddy has said he hopes to emphasize areas of common ground between the
two countries ? such as a shared interest in fighting drug
trafficking ? while trying to strengthen relations.
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