Seems the Dutch Antilles are to be the place of Venezuela's next invasion... or is it?
A while ago, Venezuelan president Chavez said he suspected the U.S. government wishes to use the Dutch Antilles and Aruba (both parts of the Kingdom of the Netherlands) as a forward military base. As a result, Henk Kamp, Dutch minister of Defense, in an excellent example of tactfullness, called Chavez on 9 march an "intolerant populist with a lot of money", who looks to the small islands off the Venezualan coast with greedy eyes.
Chavez, cleverly, retorted yesterday by saying that Kamp's action is instigated by the Americans (as if the Dutch can't make their own mistakes), because he is a man of the "extreme right-wing".
The Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs, Ben Bot, quickly assured everyone (in a Berlusconi-esque way) that Kamp's words "in no way represent the foreign politics of the Kingdom of the Netherlands", but Kamp has already assured the Antillians by stating that Venezuela, if it invades, "will be parried with ease, as it owns only one second-hand navy vessel and is no match for the Dutch navy."
Bot distances himself from Kamp's sayings (in Dutch)
Dutch Defense Minister's remarks on Venezuela raises concern in Curacao and Caracas (Venezuelan site, in English)
Chavez calls Kamp: "Pawn of Washington" (in Dutch)
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