The Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met the leaders of Colombia, Venezuela and Spain, in Ciudad Guyana , 500 km (311 miles) from Caracas, in Venezuela, Tuesday, March 29. The regional summit aimed to improve the diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela, that had been shaken after the arrest of the FARC communist member Rodrigo Granda, in December, last year. The following leaders were present at the meeting: the President of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Velez, the Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, the President of Venezuela  Hugo Chávez , and the President of Brazil  Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. During the summit, the Brazilian president defended the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and he criticized indirectly the government of the United States for his opinions in relation to Chávez. According to Lula, South America is capable of taking care of its own problems. The US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, was in Brazil on March 22 and he said that he was very worried about the political situation in Venezuela. Venezuela is buying weapons and warlike material in great quantity and Washington is considering the country a harmful influence in the region. Recently Venezuela announced that it would buy 100,000 AK-47 rifles.
The Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva met the leaders of Colombia, Venezuela and Spain, in , 500 km (311 miles) from Caracas, in Venezuela, Tuesday, March 29. The regional summit aimed to improve the diplomatic relations between Colombia and Venezuela, that had been shaken after the arrest of the member Rodrigo Granda, in December, last year. The following leaders were present at the meeting: the President of Colombia, ; the Spanish Prime Minister , ; the President of Venezuela , Hugo Chávez ; and the President of Brazil , Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. During the summit, the Brazilian president defended the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and he criticized indirectly the government of the for his opinions in relation to Chávez. According to Lula, South America is capable of taking care of its own problems. The , Donald Rumsfeld, was in Brazil on March 22 and he said that he was very worried about the political situation in Venezuela. Venezuela is buying weapons and warlike material in great quantity and Washington is considering the country a harmful influence in the region. Recently Venezuela announced that it would buy 100,000 AK-47 rifles.
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Ciudad Guyana
D
FARC communist
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Álvaro Uribe Velez,
;
R
José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero,
, ;
A
,
R
,
;
A
,
D
United States
R
US Secretary of Defense
,