The meeting, which takes place from 7pm at the National Union of Journalists headquarters in King’s Cross, comes on a day of action against US militarism in Latin America, with a picket of the US embassy from 4pm to 6pm.

Violence in Bolivia has sharply escalated in the past week, with right-wing mobs massacring over 30 supporters of President Evo Morales and burning down government buildings.

Venezuelan journalists recently uncovered an assassination and coup plot against President Hugo Chavez. Both presidents have implicated the US and expelled the country’s ambassadors.

Labour MP John McDonnell and NUJ general secretary Jeremy Dear will be joined at the meeting by Bolivian ambassador Maria Beatriz Souviro and Venezuelan deputy ambassador Felix Plasencia.

A Hands Off Venezuela (HOV) spokesman, which is organising the events with the Bolivia Solidarity Campaign, explained that, “35 years on from the CIA overthrow of Allende, this is a very dangerous time for Latin America. George Bush seems to have made it his top priority to take out Chavez and Morales before he leaves office.”

Mr McDonnell and Mr Dear, who are joint presidents of HOV, added in a statement: “We utterly condemn the coup plotters and their foreign accomplices who have attempted repeatedly since 2002 to overthrow President Chavez and crush the Venezuelan revolution. The most recent coup attempt has been foiled, but it will not be the last while the oligarchy remains.”

(Morning Star, Tuesday September 16 2008)