The Dutch Prime Minister has hit back at the Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez over accusations that the Netherlands is helping to stage a military strike against his country.

Click HERE to watch the interview in full.

During an exclusive television interview with Radio Netherlands Worldwide, Jan Peter Balkenende dismissed as pure fiction Mr Chávez’s allegations that US war planes were being deployed in the neighbouring Dutch Antilles as part of a planned attack.
 
“The President really shouldn’t use these words. He’s talking nonsense,” Mr Balkenende told RNW. “We know what these planes are for, they are being used to combat drug trafficking.”
 
Mr Chávez made his allegations during a recent television interview, saying: “We accuse the American and the Dutch governments of provoking Venezuela and planning aggression.” Mr Chávez showed a photograph of a US P3 warplane as proof, but Mr Balkenende said that the picture had been “taken from Wikipedia” and was dated from 2002. “So please, don’t use old pictures, Mr Chávez. If there are serious complaints, let’s talk about them properly.”
 
US must ‘get out of Haiti eventually’
The Dutch leader also addressed criticism over humanitarian efforts in Haiti, and over the overwhelming presence of the US military there. Nearly 20,000 soldiers will be deployed by the end of the week, amid concerns that Washington is trying to tighten its grip on the disaster-struck island, the main transit route for drugs into the US.
 
“We need the Americans now, it’s inevitable,” he said. “But in the longer run, the UN must take over responsibility.”
 
Fundraising
On Thursday, Mr Balkenende took part in a massive national fundraising effort for Haiti that raised over 83 million euros. Responding to fears that this money could later be used to prop up a corrupt state, Mr Balkenende vowed that the Dutch authorities would control spending of the funds. “We need proof of how this money is spent and we will demand it,” he said.
 
In this fourth interview with RNW, Mr Balkenende also touched on the current political storm over an inquiry into the outbreak of the Iraq war, but he dismissed suggestions that his government could collapse over the issue.