VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports: The United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) held a Monday morning session to analyze commentaries made yesterday by President Chavez during his Alo Presidente radio show.

Maria Cristina Iglesias and Jorge Rodriguez said at a press conference afterwards that the PSUV leadership supports President Chavez' call for the country to get ready to defend national territory and sovereignty because of the US-Colombian military agreement to tackle unfriendly governments in the region.

Rodriguez declared that the decision of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to treat Chavez' call as an aggression against his country and lodge a formal complaint at the UN and Organization of American States (OAS) is "cynical" because by signing on the dotted line with the USA, Uribe has declared war on all his neighbors.

Rodriguez warned that the presence of US troops (and mercenaries) on Colombian soil would herald an increase in the drug trade as occurred in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The PSUV has called its patrols, especially in border states, to a rally on Friday against imperialism and in favor of peace.

Iglesias confirmed that everything is ready for elections on Saturday to choose delegates to the party's extraordinary congress the following Saturday.

During question time, Rodriguez denied that the party had discussed internal problems, stating that different currents of opinion flourish in the party but there is a solid unity. The differences, he concluded, are political but not ideological.

Former Executive Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel has criticized the reaction of the opposition, which he dubs "dumb and insensitive" to the possibility of war ... "it hasn't said a single word about something that the whole of the region has condemned,"

Colombian paramilitaries operating inside Venezuela, he maintained, are the fifth branch of the Colombian Armed Force ordered to do its dirty work. Rangel complained that in Venezuela people did not pay attention to opportune denunciations when the phenomenon first appeared. There are 7,000 paramilitaries operating inside Venezuela, he claimed, not just in border areas but in the barrios of Caracas and the main cities.

Union Radio has just published news that the Brazilian Senate received Chavez' warning as a "bombshell." On Friday, the Senate will vote Venezuela's entry into the Southern Cone Economic Zone (Mercosur).

Yesterday, Chavez reminded Venezuelan military officers of the old adage that if you want peace, you must prepare for war.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
news.editor@vheadline.com