21 Feb 2011

Venezuelan government rejects totally false claim by William Hague that Gaddafi is on way to Venezuela

Venezuelan government rejects totally false claim by William Hague that Gaddafi is on way to Venezuela

Venezuela's Information Minister and its Deputy Foreign Minister moved swiftly earlier today to reject the false claims made by Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague that Colonel Gaddafi was heading to Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Embassy in London also strongly rejected claims from Hague that he had “seen some information suggesting he [Gaddafi] is on his way there [Venezuela] at the moment”.

Venezuelan Information and Communication Minister, Andres Izarra, said to the Associated Press that “it’s false” that Gaddafi is flying to Venezuela.

The Venezuelan Embassy in London has said that Deputy Foreign Minister Temir Porras had denied that Gaddafi was travelling to Venezuela. The Embassy added that “those British media outlets which have published the statement made by William Hague, should equally make clear the mistaken aspect of that statement.”

The Associated Press has also reported that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton dismissed Hague's comment, saying she knew nothing about it, whilst the BBC News is now reporting that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was on the phone to Gadaffi in Libya at the time Hague made his remarks.

Venezuela Solidarity Campaign Secretary Francisco Dominguez said:
“All media outlets have a responsibility to make sure that the truth on this important matter is clearly reported and should make it explicit in their coverage that the Venezuelan government have totally denied these baseless allegations that Gaddafi was flying to Venezuela.
A former British Prime Minister once wrote that ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on’. It is a disgrace that William Hague has helped false and totally unfounded claims gain widespread coverage. He should now withdraw these false allegations and reveal which sources provided the wholly unfounded claim".

5 comments:

Jim said...

I should hope so. Would be extremely damaging if they gave that butcher sanctuary.

Anonymous said...

yes, the world is a complicated place...

In September 2009, Chavez was the guest of honour at a Libyan military parade celebrating 40 years of Gaddafi in power. Six months beforehand, a football stadium in Libya was named after the Venezuelan president.

...I really could go on all night... but you get the idea.

Derek Wall said...

is your name Tony?

Anonymous said...

Why, yes Derek, you may remember me from such foreign policy gaffes as this one. Me and Hugo never saw eye to eye, except when we were gazing lovingly at Muammar...

http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/114624/20110221/tony-blair-colonel-gaddafi-and-the-myth-of-an-ethical-foreign-policy.htm

Pit Stop said...

... or Derek?

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