CARACAS: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Friday he wants to "shake hands" with his US counterpart, Barack Obama, and have "good relations" with Washington if the two leaders are reelected this year.
"Here we're going to win the elections on October 7 and Obama is probably going to win. With us winning here... if Obama wins there... hopefully we can shake hands again and talk and have better relations," Chavez told reporters at the presidential palace in Caracas.
The Venezuelan leader made the remarks in response to statements by Obama, who said Thursday in an interview that "there is a tendency on the part of the Venezuelan government to use the United States as an excuse for some of its own mistakes."
However, he also said he would like to see "improved relations with Venezuela."
When a reporter read Obama's remarks to Chavez, the Venezuelan president said, "I prefer to emphasize that last one," referring to the American president's desire for improved relations.
"Note that Obama said he would give importance to Latin America, but he has not given it and that is one of the big mistakes," Chavez said.
The Venezuelan president wants to be reelected to his third six-year term in the October 2012 election while Obama seeks to be reelected to a second presidential term in November.
The United States and Venezuela have had no ambassadors to each other's countries since 2010 and still are unable to reach an agreement for normalized relations.
The most recent diplomatic clash between the two countries occurred only weeks ago, when the United States expelled Venezuelan Consul Livia Acosta from the consulate in Miami.
The US government gave no reason for the expulsion.
However, Acosta was expelled after a documentary on the Spanish-language television network Univision in December accused her of participating in an alleged Iranian plot to launch cyber attacks against the United States from Mexico while she was a diplomat stationed there.
The State Department has been investigating the reports.
Chavez called the expulsion "unjust" and "abusive," and in response Venezuela officially closed its consulate in Miami last week and ordered its staff to return to Caracas. Chavez said there were "threats" against them that created a "real, serious and imminent" danger.
On Friday, he said he could provide proof of the threats to Venezuelan diplomats in response to a State Department request for the evidence.
"They ask us for proof," Chavez said. "They should have it, it's in their territory.
"We have personal complaints of officials who say they have been insulted or that suddenly, (when) they go to restaurants with their family, they have been recognized and assaulted," Chavez told reporters.
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