VENEZUELA: FM Maduro Tells U.S. To Butt-Out Of Domestic Affairs; 68 Students On Hunger Strike Over Human Rights Abuses.

AP/ M.HERALD /

   Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro told Washington to stop meddling in its domestic affairs after a U.S. spokesman suggested that Venezuela should allow an OAS investigation into alleged human rights abuses.
   "We absolutely reject that the U.S. get involved in this issue," said Maduro. "Our country does not accept tutelage from anybody."
    68 students have been staging a hunger strike since 31 January in front of the OAS office and several embassies in Caracas and in other cities over charges that the Chavez government improperly uses judges and prosecutors to attack his political adversaries. They say they are consuming only water and saline solution.

VENEZUELA/COLOMBIA: No Reconciliation Until Uribe Leaves.

COLOMBIA REPORTS/    Venezuela's current Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro says "We must await the outcome of presidential elections in Colombia and await the arrival of a new president to go forward. All that can be done today is to focus on creating conditions for the time." Maduro hopes that "with the new Colombian president clear relations can be established, based on the respect of our country."
Maduro insisted that Uribe "turned Bogota into a center of conspiracy against the stability of our country and the region."