By: Pace International Law Review Editorial Staff

On September 28, 2009, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez and Libya’s leader Moammar Gadhafi signed a declaration to push for a global conference to reevaluate the accepted definition of terrorism at a summit of South American and African leaders in Venezuela. Mr. Chavez and Mr. Gadhafi both claim that the currently accepted definition of terrorism links the legitimate struggle of people for liberty and self-determination with terrorism, but both stress that terrorism must be countered in all its forms.
Neither leader disclosed the substance of the declaration or who the proposal would be directed at, but Mr. Chavez did mention the United States and Great Britain in speeches subsequent to the signing of the document. Both Libya and Venezuela have been accused of harboring terrorists from the Lockerbie incident and members of FARC, respectively. However, Gadhafi has called off his weapons of mass destruction program and has resolved to combat terrorism.