Venezuela’s populist president, Hugo Chávez, is nothing if not controversial. His tour of Europe and North Africa includes attending summits in Vienna, a meeting with the Pope and a non-official visit to Britain.
Mr Chávez will not be meeting either the prime minister or the foreign secretary during his two-day visit to the UK, but will instead have lunch with Ken Livingstone, the mayor of London, leaders of the TUC and a group of Labour MPs in the House of Commons.
Mr Chávez’s increasing forays onto the world stage are seen as a sign of the Venezuelan leader’s growing confidence at a time when the oil that fuels his economy has reached record prices and the number of sympathetic leftwing governments in Latin America is increasing.
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