Jan. 2: President Hugo Chavez and US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton shook hands and chatted briefly on Saturday in a rare cordial encounter amid a diplomatic dispute that has left Venezuela and the United States without ambassadors in each other’s capitals.
The handshake came as leaders were milling about at the inauguration of new Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff. It was unclear what Mr Chavez and Ms Clinton discussed. Mr Chavez later described the interaction as a pleasant one, though he did not give much detail. “We greeted each other,” he told reporters at the Brasilia airport. “She had a very spontaneous smile and I greeted her with the same effusiveness.”
In the past week, their governments have shown firmly entrenched stances as the United States revoked the Venezuelan ambassador’s visa in response to Mr Chavez’s refusal to accept the chosen US envoy.
“They thought we were going to back down. Anything negative that happens will be the responsibility of the United States,” veteran Venezuelan diplomat Roy Chaderton told the Caracas-based television channel Telesur on Thursday. Chaderton, a close Chavez ally and former foreign minister, said the Venezuelan government was considering its next steps.
Mr Chavez has skipped opportunities to respond during the past few days, saying nothing about the US government’s decision to revoke the visa of ambassador Bernardo Alvarez.