Posted on Thu, Jun. 21, 2007

Presidential candidate John Edwards hoped actor Danny Glover would be his Lethal Weapon.

But a Miami-based group of Venezuelan-American activists chided the Democratic candidate Wednesday for campaigning with Glover, who has embraced Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. ''We are saddened by the fact that you have proudly showed yourself, in the same manner Mr. Chávez showed himself next to Mr. Glover, as if both of you were holding a trophy,'' read the letter sent to Edwards. ``We believe this to be a political miscalculation on your part, as it sends contradicting messages to those who, like us, have chosen and sworn to uphold the democratic and moral values of our new homeland.''

The Venezuelan government has agreed to provide $18 million in financing for Glover's upcoming movie about Toussaint Louverture, leader of an 18th-century slave rebellion in Haiti. Chávez critics fear the venture will burnish his international reputation.

GIULIANI ISSUE

Ernesto Ackerman, who was among the nine people who signed the letter to Edwards, also has raised concerns about Republican candidate Rudy Giuliani's law firm doing business with a subsidiary of the Venezuelan oil company controlled by Chávez. Giuliani does not personally lobby for Citgo, though he is a senior partner at the firm and shares in its profits.

''John Edwards is making a big mistake getting together with Danny Glover,'' Ackerman said. ``It's a negative for any campaign, Democrat or Republican.''

REACTION

Glover, star of the Lethal Weapon movies with Mel Gibson, stumped with Edwards two weeks ago in South Carolina and introduced him at the National Conference of Black Mayors in Louisiana in May. The longtime civil-rights activist and former vice-presidential nominee bonded when they toured the country in 2006 to help hotel workers organize.

''Of course John Edwards rejects Hugo Chávez's increasingly authoritarian policies,'' Edwards spokesman Eric Schultz said in a written statement. ``However, John Edwards does agree with Danny Glover that workers need rights, 37 million people in this country should not live in poverty and we need real, universal health care. John Edwards doesn't have to agree with someone on every issue to stand with them on the ones that he does.''

The Bush administration said last year that Venezuela was ''not cooperating fully'' with antiterrorism efforts, stopping one step short of grouping the country with state sponsors of terrorism like Iran, Syria and Cuba. Chávez has condemned President Bush as a ''devil'' and staged an anti-American rally in Buenos Aires during the president's tour of Latin America earlier this year.

Most recently, Chávez has faced criticism for shutting down a television station that challenged his regime.