Venezuelanalysis.com writes: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has arrived in New York to participate at the 60th anniversary General Assembly of the United Nations. The UN had started yesterday (Wednesday) with more than 150 Heads of State attending.

• Chavez arrived late due to delays in the issuing of visas for part of his medical and security teams.

Yesterday, the Venezuelan government issued a formal complaint to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, denouncing the denial of the visas for Chavez’ personnel.  "There is no doubt that they (the United States) are interfering so that we cannot fulfill our international duties," Foreign Minister (MRE) Ali Rodriguez had told reporters.

Venezuelan government sources said that the delay in the visas might have been intentional to minimize the possibility of presidents Chavez and Bush crossing paths ... Bush addressed the UN yesterday. Chavez routinely denounces US government actions aimed at toppling his government, while the Bush administration accuses Chavez of being a threat to stability in the region.

• Last year, Chavez had had to cancel his attendance at the 59th opening of the General Assembly at the last minute because of security concerns.

In recent months, Chavez has denounced alleged plans by US groups or individuals seeking to assassinate him. Recently, the influential US televangelist Pat Robertson called publicly for Chavez' assassination. Robertson later apologized and argued instead for his kidnapping.

• Chavez will speak to the UN this afternoon, and will hold several bilateral meetings.  He is also expected to give speeches at Columbia University and at a New York church.

Yesterday, Wednesday, the UN General Assembly adopted a document aimed at addressing poverty, human rights and UN reform, which world leaders must approve at the summit. However, many crucial issues have been scrapped from early drafts, leading Secretary General Annan to use words such as "disgrace" to describe the failure to address non-nuclear proliferation.

Venezuela has also expressed concern over the way in which the document was discussed. Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez said that Venezuela was not made aware of the changes to the document until the last minute, and complained that the final version was only made available in English.

Venezuela's Chavez Arrives to New York for UN Summit After Delays