Weekly Report - 5 August 2003

Hugo Chávez appears to have succeeded in gaining another enemy: Dominican President Hipólito Mejí­a, whom he has accused of turning a blind eye to a plot being hatched in his country to assassinate him. 

Chávez did not name the plotters, but made it quite clear who he was referring to. The conspiracy, he said, was being nurtured 'outside Santo Domingo in the house of the great capo.' Almost everyone instantly recognised this as an allusion to former Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Pérez, who spends his self-imposed exile commuting between Santo Domingo, Miami and New York. 

The Venezuelan President said he had informed Mejí­a personally of the plot, but that Mejí­a had 'made light' of it. For his part, Mejí­a said that neither he nor the Dominican intelligence services had any information about the affair - and that if Chávez had anything to tell him he should use diplomatic channels.