President Hugo Chavez warned today of a separatist  plan  orchestrated by the United States to take control of natural and other  economic resources in several states in the west of Venezuela.   “To be united is our best emblem. We must be alert to the attempts  made by  counterrevolutionary forces to promote division in this country,”  pointed  out Chavez at a political rally with Socialist Party members in the  state of  Zulia.  

“We are in Maracaibo, land of liberators and natural resources, but  this is  also the epicenter of a separatist plan orchestrated by Washington,”  the  president said.   “Now,” pointed out Chavez, “the oligarchy and the  counterrevolutionaries  want to extend those manoeuvres to other departments, such as Merida,  Apure  and Falcon, in order to create a so-called divisionist chain.” 

 “If the fascist counterrevolutionaries manage to win provincial  governments  in these regions, let’s say in Tachira, Merida or Zulia, then 2009  will be a  year of war and great battles,” stressed Chavez.  

According to recent statements by party leaders, the national  leadership of  the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) is ready to confront  any  separatist attempt aimed at separating the state of Zulia from the  rest of  the country.  

Rodrigo Cabezas, the vice president of the PSUV in the region of  Zulia-Falcon, criticized the plans of Venezuela’s extreme right  wingers from  some states in the west of the country. (PL)