Venezuela: Chavez discusses mediation with Gadhafi (AP)

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press – 2 hrs 27 mins ago

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez has spoken with Moammar Gadhafi about creating a bloc of friendly countries to help mediate a resolution to Libya's crisis, Venezuela's information minister said Wednesday.

Venezuela's president, who has forged close ties with Gadhafi and refused to condemn him for his crackdown on protesters, spoke with the Libyan leader on Tuesday, Information Minister Andres Izarra said through Twitter.

Venezuela has already reached out to its allies in Latin America and beyond to discuss the creation of a friendly bloc of nations — dubbed the Committee of Peace — to mediate the crisis.

Venezuelan officials did not say how Gadhafi had responded to the proposal.

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the creation of such a bloc could help resolve the conflict in Libya, adding that his government felt diplomacy — rather than military threats — should be used to end the violence sweeping the North African nation.

Maduro criticized U.S. and European Union officials for adopting policies aimed at isolating Gadhafi and raising the possibility of providing military support to Libyans rebelling against the embattled leader.

Such policies "point at giving the empire authorization for an invasion against the Libyan people," Maduro said, according to the state-run AVN news agency.

Chavez — who shares a mutual opposition to Washington with Gadhafi — has said he won't cave into international pressure to condemn Gadhafi and he has warned that Washington is preparing a military invasion of Libya.

"Hopefully in the coming days we could create a committee of friendly countries that go to talk with the government of Col. Gadhafi as well as the opposition that his taken up arms in some regions," Maduro said.

In a speech to chanting and clapping supporters in Tripoli on Wednesday, Gadhafi lashed out against Europe and the United States for their pressure on him to step down, warning that "thousands of Libyans will die" if U.S. and NATO forces intervene in the conflict.

Chavez has built close ties with Libya and visited the Arab country several times.

Gadhafi awarded Chavez in 2004 with the Libyan leader's annual human rights prize for battling "the effects of imperialism and the enemies of freedom inside and outside" Venezuela.

During a visit last year to Venezuela, Gadhafi pitched his tent outside a hotel during a summit of African and Latin American leaders. Gadhafi also received a special gift from Chavez: a replica of the sword that once belonged to Venezuela's 19th-century independence hero, Simon Bolivar.

Venezuela's opposition has strongly criticized Chavez for his close relationship to Gadhafi.

Earlier this week, a coalition of opposition parties warned that Chavez's failure to take a stand against Gadhafi's violent crackdown is smearing Venezuela's reputation abroad. Opposition politician Gustavo Azocar demanded that Chavez ask Gadhafi to return the replica of Bolivar's sword, saying the government should explain why it "gave the sword of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, to an assassin like Gadhafi."

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Venezuela: Chavez discusses mediation with Gadhafi (AP)

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press – 2 hrs 27 mins ago

CARACAS, Venezuela – President Hugo Chavez has spoken with Moammar Gadhafi about creating a bloc of friendly countries to help mediate a resolution to Libya's crisis, Venezuela's information minister said Wednesday.

Venezuela's president, who has forged close ties with Gadhafi and refused to condemn him for his crackdown on protesters, spoke with the Libyan leader on Tuesday, Information Minister Andres Izarra said through Twitter.

Venezuela has already reached out to its allies in Latin America and beyond to discuss the creation of a friendly bloc of nations — dubbed the Committee of Peace — to mediate the crisis.

Venezuelan officials did not say how Gadhafi had responded to the proposal.

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said the creation of such a bloc could help resolve the conflict in Libya, adding that his government felt diplomacy — rather than military threats — should be used to end the violence sweeping the North African nation.

Maduro criticized U.S. and European Union officials for adopting policies aimed at isolating Gadhafi and raising the possibility of providing military support to Libyans rebelling against the embattled leader.

Such policies "point at giving the empire authorization for an invasion against the Libyan people," Maduro said, according to the state-run AVN news agency.

Chavez — who shares a mutual opposition to Washington with Gadhafi — has said he won't cave into international pressure to condemn Gadhafi and he has warned that Washington is preparing a military invasion of Libya.

"Hopefully in the coming days we could create a committee of friendly countries that go to talk with the government of Col. Gadhafi as well as the opposition that his taken up arms in some regions," Maduro said.

In a speech to chanting and clapping supporters in Tripoli on Wednesday, Gadhafi lashed out against Europe and the United States for their pressure on him to step down, warning that "thousands of Libyans will die" if U.S. and NATO forces intervene in the conflict.

Chavez has built close ties with Libya and visited the Arab country several times.

Gadhafi awarded Chavez in 2004 with the Libyan leader's annual human rights prize for battling "the effects of imperialism and the enemies of freedom inside and outside" Venezuela.

During a visit last year to Venezuela, Gadhafi pitched his tent outside a hotel during a summit of African and Latin American leaders. Gadhafi also received a special gift from Chavez: a replica of the sword that once belonged to Venezuela's 19th-century independence hero, Simon Bolivar.

Venezuela's opposition has strongly criticized Chavez for his close relationship to Gadhafi.

Earlier this week, a coalition of opposition parties warned that Chavez's failure to take a stand against Gadhafi's violent crackdown is smearing Venezuela's reputation abroad. Opposition politician Gustavo Azocar demanded that Chavez ask Gadhafi to return the replica of Bolivar's sword, saying the government should explain why it "gave the sword of the Liberator, Simon Bolivar, to an assassin like Gadhafi."

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Libyan volunteers eager to fight Gadhafi (AP)

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Jewish group slams 'solidarity' with Gadhafi (AP)

By CHRISTOPHER TOOTHAKER, Associated Press Christopher Toothaker, Associated Press – 1 hr 16 mins ago

CARACAS, Venezuela – Moammar Gadhafi's allies in Latin America should follow Peru's example and suspend diplomatic relations with the North African nation's regime, the representative of a leading Jewish organization said Friday.

Sergio Widder, the Latin American representative of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, strongly criticized the governments of Nicaragua, Cuba and Venezuela for failing to condemn Gadhafi's violent crackdown on a popular uprising.

"Solidarity with a dictator who has been in power for more than four decades and is massacring his own people is shameful and criminal," Widder said in a statement. "We welcome the decision by Peru's president, Alan Garcia, to break off relations with the Libyan regime."

"It's an offense for the victims of Latin American dictatorships," Widder added.

Peru's government announced this week that it was suspending diplomatic relations with Libya to protest the violence unleashed by Gadhafi.

Peru's government announced in a statement that it would also ask the U.N. Security Council to establish an exclusion zone in Libyan airspace "to prevent the use of that country's warplanes against (its) population."

Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega offered support for Gadhafi, saying he had telephoned to express solidarity. Former Cuban leader Fidel Castro said the unrest may be a pretext for an invasion of Libya by members of North Atlantic Treaty Organization — a step that NATO has ruled out.

Ortega on Friday reaffirmed his position, saying he "firmly maintained" his support for Gadhafi, who he said has been the victim of "a ferocious media attack." The former guerrilla leader-turned-president called the situation in Libya "tough and difficult," adding that he hoped for peace.

Venezuela's Hugo Chavez has neither condemned nor defended Gadhafi's crackdown, but his failure to take a stand has prompted strong criticism from his political opponents at home.

The opposition-sided Tal Cual newspaper said in an editorial published on Friday that Chavez brought shame on his fellow citizens by forging close ties to Gadhafi, noting that last year he gave the Libyan leader a replica of the sword that once belonged to 19th-century independence hero Simon Bolivar.

"It's shameful for Venezuela that he has the sword ... of our 'Liberator'," it said.

In a Twitter message Thursday, Chavez said: "Viva Libya and its independence! Gadhafi is facing a civil war."

It was the first time that Chavez has publicly referred to the violence in Libya. He referred to the issue again late Friday, calling himself "a friend of Gadhafi" and warning against "the possibility of civil war" in Libya.

"I cannot say that I'm in favor" of what's happening in Libya, Chavez said. The self-proclaimed revolutionary said he has "maintained silence" regarding the situation in Libya because of muddled media reports.

"We've been prudent," he said.

___

Associated Press writer Filadelfo Aleman contributed to this report from Managua, Nicaragua.

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Report: Ex-minister says Gadhafi ordered Lockerbie (AP)

STOCKHOLM – Libya's ex-justice minister on Wednesday was quoted as telling a Swedish newspaper that Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi personally ordered the Lockerbie bombing that killed 270 people in 1988.
"I have proof that Gadhafi gave the order about Lockerbie," Mustafa Abdel-Jalil was quoted as saying in an interview with Expressen, a Stockholm-based tabloid.
Abdel-Jalil, who stepped down as justice minister to protest the clampdown on anti-government demonstrations, didn't describe the proof.
Expressen said it interviewed the ex-minister at the local parliament of a large city in Libya.
Abdel-Jalil told Expressen that Gadhafi gave the order to Abdel Baset al-Megrahi, the only man convicted in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, which killed all 259 people on board and 11 on the ground.
"To hide it, he (Gadhafi) did everything in his power to get al-Megrahi back from Scotland," Abdel-Jalil was quoted as saying.
Al-Megrahi was granted a compassionate release from a Scottish prison in August 2009 on the grounds that he was suffering from prostate cancer and would die soon. He is still alive
Expressen spokeswoman Alexandra Forslund said its reporter in Libya, Kassem Hamade, taped the interview, which was conducted in Arabic and translated to Swedish.
Gadhafi has been trying to bring his country out of isolation, announcing in 2003 that he was abandoning his program for weapons of mass destruction and renouncing terrorism.
Gadhafi also accepted Libya's responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing and paid compensation to the victims' families. But he hasn't admitted personally giving the order for the attack.
Most of the victims in the Lockerbie bombing were Americans, and al-Megrahi's release has been criticized by members of the U.S. Congress and the victims' families.
Bob Monetti, of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, whose 20-year-old son Richard was killed in the bombing, said he's glad to hear a former official say what's been clear to him all along. He said officials and the media, especially in the U.K., have been denying that.
"If you went to the trial, there was no question about who did it and why, and who ordered it," Monetti said.
Lisa Gibson, of Colorado Springs, Colorado, lost her 20-year-old brother Ken in the bombing.
"I'm not surprised for him to say that Gadhafi is responsible because ultimately we know that," Gibson said.
Al-Megrahi's trial was conducted at a special Scottish court set up in the Netherlands after years of diplomatic maneuvering.
In Britain, some Lockerbie victims' relatives have questioned his conviction. They argue that insufficient attention was paid to the possibility that the bombing was carried out not by Libyan intelligence but by Iranian-backed Palestinian terrorists.
Their case was bolstered when the Scottish Criminal Cases Review Board raised questions about evidence used to convict al-Megrahi. The former Libyan agent had been in the process of appealing his conviction when he was released.
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Geoff Mulvihill in Haddonfield, New Jersey, contributed to this report.
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