U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Shannon says the U.S. has a positive agenda in the region.

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In Oklahoma, "There's going to be healthy debate and discussion about what the limits of the federal government are and also about where state sovereignty begins, " said Shannon.

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Thomas Shannon, who was also Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs in the second Bush term, seems to have a kind of get along -go along approach with regards to Latin America.

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Arturo A. Valenzuela, of the District of Columbia, to be an Assistant Secretary of State (Western Hemisphere Affairs), vice Thomas A. Shannon, Jr.

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But Chavez has already rejected Shannon's offers to hold a dialogue, which comes as a slap in the face to the State Department.

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