LETTER TO: Senator Norm Coleman (GONZALO COLIMODIO)

Gonzalo Colimodio

March 4, 2004

Senator

Norm Coleman

Chairman

Foreign Relation Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere

320 Senate Hart Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

Dear Senator:

I am sending to you a copy of the letter I sent to Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee in connection with the Constitutional and Political crisis in Venezuela.

I have read with much interest your declaration concerning the violation of the Rule of Law in Venezuela.

 Senator, this regime has had and has a total disregard for the Rule of Law, has kidnapped the democratic institutions (Congress, The attorney General office, and the Supreme Court) and they only exist as a façade for international public opinion. If we were to pierce that democratic veil, we will see the existence of a totalitarian Castro type regime that is carrying out a conspiracy not only to establish that totalitarian system in Venezuela but also to destabilize the Andean Region (Bolivia, Colombia, and Ecuador) and other countries in this hemisphere (The Caribbean countries and in Central America, Guatemala, El Salvador and Nicaragua).

I have no doubt that we will prevail in our fight to maintain our democratic values using all the constitutional and legal means at our disposal but I must bring to your attention that this problem transcend our border and we require and request the immediate support of the international community.

On a different issue, I have visited in various occasions the city of Minneapolis and the quality of life is the best that I have seen.

Sincerely Yours

Gonzalo Colimodio