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News and Views About the United States
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Your Most Trusted Source of Foreign
News and Views About the United States
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November 18, 2005
Original Article (English)
In the midst of a heated verbal back-and-forth with the President of Mexico, Vicente Fox, the Venezuelan chief executive has launched a new verbal assault against his American counterpart, as soon as Washington again raised the question of democracy in his country.
President Hugo Chavez called the president of the United States, George W. Bush, and "assassin," and accused Washington of interfering in the internal affairs of Venezuela.
The Venezuelan President, a critic of the policies of the United States in Latin America, pointed out in a televised speech that the American people "are governed by an insane, genocidal, crazy man ... and I believe that the people of the United States are more conscious of this every day."
In a speech last night [Thursday night], to Venezuelan government officials and Brazilian businessmen at a dinner held at the Presidential Palace in Miraflores, Chavez criticized the American authorities for raising the issue of the health Venezuelan democracy and praised North Americans who oppose the "imperialism" of their government.
Chavez' comments were in response to comments made by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Thomas A. Shannon, who said that Venezuelan democracy in "in serious danger."
"This is not new … Assaults on democratic institutions in Venezuela have continued over the last year," Shannon told a hearing of the U.S. House Western Hemisphere Subcommittee on "the state of democracy in Venezuela."
Chavez, which is fresh off a controversy with Vicente Fox for the Mexican President's position in regard to the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) promoted by Washington, declared himself worried about the people of the United States, where he said there is no true democracy.
"The most serious danger that we have, not only to democracy ... but to today's world, is called the Government of the United States," Chavez said. "We welcome those that are against the war and the aggression against Iraq, and who are against the aggression against Venezuela" he added.
Chavez has confronted the American government on several occasions, and accuses Washington of trying to overthrow him, a claim that authorities in the United States sharply reject.
The American ambassador to Venezuela, William Brownfield, indicated this week that the Venezuelan authorities have erroneously accused Washington of having planned assassinations, a coup d'etat, divisions within the ruling party, a campaign to sabotage the crude oil petroleum production and of floods tied to global warming.
Chavez, who maintains a close friendship with Cuban President Fidel Castro, urged the leftist governments of Latin America to resist American hegemony in the region. "This is the moment for resistance ... and I can assure them [the U.S. Government], that if we fail, our children and our grandchildren will be here to resist," the President said.
At the recent [4th] Summit [of the Americas] at Mar Del Plata, Argentina, Chavez - with the presidents of the Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay) - opposed discussing the FTAA, while Mexico came out of the plan's most staunch defenders.