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CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chávez said Saturday that he was ready to engage in direct talks with President Obama in a bid to repair relations with the United States. The statement marked an evolution in Mr. Chávez’s view of Mr. Obama, whom he described last month as having the “same stench” as his predecessor in the White House.
“Any day is propitious for talking with President Barack Obama,” Mr. Chávez said at a news conference here with foreign journalists ahead of a referendum on Sunday that could open the way for him to hold on to power indefinitely. Mr. Chávez said he would be willing to meet with Mr. Obama before a summit meeting in April of Western Hemisphere nations. The White House has not yet responded.
Mr. Chávez initially expressed optimism over Mr. Obama’s electoral victory and a willingness to re-engage with the United States. But Mr. Chávez cooled to Mr. Obama in January after the American leader voiced concern over reports of Venezuelan assistance to Colombian guerrillas. Ties between the two nations had deteriorated sharply in 2008.
The Obama administration seems to have adopted a nonbombastic approach to dealing with Venezuela, even as it was faced with questions over a referendum campaign here which had been marked by attacks by pro-Chávez partisans on institutions viewed as critical of Mr. Chávez, like the Israeli Embassy and the Vatican’s diplomatic mission, and threats against prominent opponents of the president.
“That’s an internal matter with regard to Venezuela,” Robert Wood, a State Department spokesman, said when asked this month about the referendum.
The vote on Sunday over lifting term limits for Mr. Chávez and other elected officials has again brought out the aggressive campaigning tactics of the president and his allies. His government shifted attention from festering domestic issues like a surge in homicides by expelling a Spanish lawmaker on Saturday who was here as an electoral observer.
The Spanish member of the European Parliament, Luis Herrero, had publicly described Mr. Chávez as a “dictator” in criticism of the electoral process.
“What a coarse man!” Mr. Chávez said on Saturday of Mr. Herrero, who was shoved into a car outside his hotel here by security forces Friday night and placed on a red-eye flight to São Paulo, Brazil. “He set off a fan of excrement.”
The referendum is the second time in 15 months that Mr. Chávez has sought to extend his stay in power beyond 2013, when his six-year term ends. Voters narrowly rejected an attempt in December 2007, which was bundled within a broader constitutional overhaul. Summing up the referendum on Saturday, Mr. Chávez said, “Venezuela is continuing on its march toward greatness.”
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