VENEZUELA: Government collects money for Lebanon reconstruction

The government of socialist President Hugo Chavez has launched a campaign to collect money in Venezuela for donation to Lebanon, in an attempt to help reconstructing Lebanon following Israel's war on the country, according to the foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro. The government was encouraging all Venezuelan's to donate as part of a plan called "One Venezuelan bolivar for Lebanon". "I hope the Arab, Jewish and all the other communities living in Venezuela react" to let the people in Lebanon and Palestine know "that we are supporting their cause", he said. The government also hired charter flights to help evacuate Venezuelans and other Latin Americans from Lebanon amidst the conflict.

From GLW issue 681