RAMALLAH, September 26, 2011 (WAFA) – Venezuelan Representative to the Palestinian Authority, Luis Daniel Lugo, Monday handed the Foreign Minister’s Assistant for Latin America, Munjed Saleh,  a copy of a letter by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez addressed to United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, supporting the Palestinian application for full UN membership of a Palestinian state.

“I address these words to the United Nations General Assembly … to ratify, in this day and in this setting, Venezuela’s full support of the recognition of the Palestinian state: of Palestine’s right to become a free, sovereign and independent state,” Chavez said in the letter.

Chavez said that state members of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA) have denounced US threats to use the veto against the Palestinian application.

Lugo, while delivering a copy of the letter to Saleh in Ramallah, stressed that Venezuela’s official position has completely supported the Palestinians for 64 years. He described the limits of the Venezuelan support as “infinite.”

Venezuela might need more political strength, however it does little talking and more action, Lugo added, commenting on the Venezuelan government’s decision to put a private plane at Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki’s disposal during his tour of South America, which resulted in six islands’ recognition of a Palestinian state so far.

Saleh noted the good, long-term Palestinian-Venezuelan relations, especially with the inauguration of the Palestinian embassy in Venezuela in 2009.

In a related matter, Saleh said there are no expectations of the outcome of the UN Security Council preliminary meeting later today, which will discuss the Palestinian application for membership, and anticipated that discussions will take some time.

R.Q./F.J.