Israel Matzav

Chavez: Yes, we've started a nuclear program

Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez admitted last week that his country has begun to carry out the first studies of a nuclear program. But what's even more distressing may be where Chavez is getting his nuclear technology: Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's Iran.

On Sept. 21, I held a briefing for journalists and regional experts where I revealed for the first time information about Chavez's nuclear program and his troubling and substantial collaboration with Iran. This research--conducted during the past 12 months by a team of experts who analyzed sensitive material obtained from sources within the Venezuelan regime--paints a far darker picture of Chavez's intentions.

Chávez has been developing the program for two years with the collaboration of Iran, a nuclear rogue state. In addition to showing the two states' cooperation on nuclear research, these documents suggest that Venezuela is helping Iran obtain uranium and evade international sanctions, all steps that are apparent violations of the U.N. Security Council resolutions meant to forestall Iran's illegal nuclear weapons program.

Chávez's suggestion that he is merely studying the idea of a nuclear energy program is misleading. In fact, in November 2008, Iranian and Venezuelan officials signed a secret "science and technology" agreement formalizing cooperation "in the field of nuclear technology." (The text of the agreement, available in Farsi and Spanish, is available here.) The week after the agreement was signed, Venezuela's Ministry of Energy and Petroleum prepared a presentation for the International Atomic Energy Agency documenting the establishment of a "nuclear power programme" in Venezuela. That presentation, obtained from sources within the Venezuelan government, reveals that an "Atomic Energy Committee" has been managing the nuclear program since 2007.

All countries have the right to a peaceful nuclear energy program under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, of which Venezuela is a signatory. However, Chávez's decision to rely on one of the world's worst proliferators to help develop his country's capabilities in this sensitive technology sets alarm bells ringing. And his recent public declarations understating the nature of his nuclear program raise more questions than they answer.

It gets worse. Much worse. Read the whole thing. If a nuclear power and proliferator on Israel's doorstep isn't sufficient to get Obama to act, perhaps a nuclear power and proliferator on America's doorstep will be.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 3:05 PM