Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez admitted last week that his government is “carrying out the first studies” of a nuclear program. He attempted to portray it as an innocuous program designed solely for peaceful purposes.
On Sept. 21, I held a briefing for journalists and regional experts where I revealed for the first time information about Chavez’s nuclear program and his troubling and substantial collaboration with Iran. This research — conducted during the past 12 months by a team of experts who analyzed sensitive material obtained from sources within the Venezuelan regime — paints a far darker picture of Chavez’s intentions.
Chávez has been developing the program for two years with the collaboration of Iran, a nuclear rogue state. In addition to showing the two states’ cooperation on nuclear research, these documents suggest that Venezuela is helping Iran obtain uranium and evade international sanctions, all steps that are apparent violations of the U.N. Security Council resolutions meant to forestall Iran’s illegal nuclear weapons program.
Last month Noriega noted that two US citizens were indicted on charges of attempting to sell the Chavez government on building a bomb of its own. And here’s more from Noriega on whether or not the Venezuelan opposition will be able to force Chavez to trim his sails.
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