Venezuela maintains support for Gaddafi

Feb 25, 2011, 16:10 GMT

Caracas - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez expressed his support for Libyan leader Moamer Gaddafi in a post on the social network Twitter Friday.

'Long live Libya and its independence! Gaddafi is facing a civil war!' Chavez wrote in a message that was posted Friday.

The left-wing populist Chavez thus joined historic Cuban leader Fidel Castro, who lent his support in an article this week. Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, another close ally of Castro and Chavez, had also spoken in favour of Gaddafi.

Chavez decorated Gaddafi in September 2009, when he hosted the Libyan leader and presented him with a replica of the sword of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

The opposition to Chavez now demands that Gaddafi give back the replica of the sword. Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro, however, made it clear that the government has not changed its mind.

Gaddafi 'helped consolidate vital organizations that fought for the economic independence of the peoples of the south, he has been vital for the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, he has played a fundamental role in the consolidation of the Non-Aligned Movement and his participation was decisive for the construction of the Arab League,' Maduro argued.

He added that Venezuela wants Libya to preserve 'its national unity and for the civil war to stop.'

'We stand for the independence, the peace and the sovereignty of the Libyan people,' Maduro said.

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