They seem like old pals. Later they sat around a campfire and reminisced about Che Guevara.
President Obama shook hands with Venezuela's Hugo Chavez on Friday at the opening of the Summit of the Americas being held this weekend in Trinidad and Tobago.Why have any ideological arguments when you're basically on the same page?
It wasn't immediately clear Friday evening what words were exchanged between the two leaders, but photos released by the Venezuelan government show Obama clasping Chavez's hand and smiling broadly.
Earlier Friday, Dan Restrepo, the president's top Western Hemisphere adviser on the National Security Council, had told FOX News Obama might cross paths with Chavez.
"A chance encounter if it occurs," Restrepo said, in describing such a meeting. "Let's put the animosities behind us. Let's not have old arguments.
"Let's not have tired ideological arguments. Let's get down to figuring out how we can advance things that are in our national interest. Things that matter to the United States that should matter to Venezuela. Putting the arguments and ideologies of the past aside and working on pragmatic solutions to real problems that face our countries today," he said.
Meanwhile, as Obama shares a bro-shake with the thug Chavez, opposition leaders in Venezuela are in hiding and being jailed.
The mayor of Venezuela's second largest city is missing, apparently the latest casualty of a crackdown on opposition by President Hugo Chavez that observers are calling outright persecution.The same power Comrade Obama desperately seeks.
Manuel Rosales ran against Chavez for president in 2006 and lost, but last year he was elected mayor of the port city of Maracaibo, home to over 3 million people.
After Chavez vowed on national TV to throw Rosales in jail, the government filed corruption charges against the 56-year-old mayor. Two weeks ago, Rosales dropped out of sight. Supporters say he is hiding — from an enemy who now has the power to crush all opposition.
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