Venezuela's Information Minister and its Deputy Foreign Minister moved swiftly earlier today to reject the false claims made by Britain’s Foreign Minister William Hague that Colonel Gaddafi was heading to Venezuela.
The Venezuelan Embassy in London also strongly rejected claims from Hague that he had “seen some information suggesting he [Gaddafi] is on his way there [Venezuela] at the moment”.
Venezuelan Information and Communication Minister, Andres Izarra, said to the Associated Press that “it’s false” that Gaddafi is flying to Venezuela.
The Venezuelan Embassy in London has said that Deputy Foreign Minister Temir Porras had denied that Gaddafi was travelling to Venezuela. The Embassy added that “those British media outlets which have published the statement made by William Hague, should equally make clear the mistaken aspect of that statement.”
The Associated Press has also reported that EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton dismissed Hague's comment, saying she knew nothing about it, whilst the BBC News is now reporting that UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was on the phone to Gadaffi in Libya at the time Hague made his remarks.
Venezuela Solidarity Campaign Secretary Francisco Dominguez said:
“All media outlets have a responsibility to make sure that the truth on this important matter is clearly reported and should make it explicit in their coverage that the Venezuelan government have totally denied these baseless allegations that Gaddafi was flying to Venezuela.
A former British Prime Minister once wrote that ‘A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on’. It is a disgrace that William Hague has helped false and totally unfounded claims gain widespread coverage. He should now withdraw these false allegations and reveal which sources provided the wholly unfounded claim".
Venezuela Solidarity Campaign
