Chavez Defends Zelaya; Denounces Fox News

[United Nations RoundUp]

President Hugo Chavez of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela sees himself as a leader of the underprivileged of the world.

His government was at famous loggerheads with the George W. Bush Administration, which actually encouraged –if not instigated—a short lived coup de tat against Chavez.  Chavez is hated by the right wing media.   

In 2006 when he addressed the United Nations General Assembly, Chavez referred to President George W. Bush as “the Devil.”  While standing at the podium from which presidents address the General Assembly , he famously remarked that it smelled of sulfur because the President Bush had spoken from there the previous day. 

When Chavez spoke at the United Nations last week, he said:  “It doesn’t smell of sulfur here anymore.  It’s gone.  No, it smells of something else.  It smells of hope.”

President Chavez said that he hopes that God protects President Obama from the bullets that killed President John F. Kennedy.  Chavez also spoke of his relations with President Alvaro Uribe of Columbia, whose country is an ally of the United States and has increased military cooperation with Washington.  Columbia is a large exporter of cocaine to the United States. 

President Chavez offered a history lesson concerning Gran Columbia, an early 19th century country which included Columbia, Venezuela, Panama, and Ecuador.  Chavez believes that Uribe would like to see another Gran Columbia.

Chavez praised President Evo Morales of Bolivia, who has permitted farmers to grow coca plants. He, as did Morales, said coca leaves are not cocaine.  It is Americans, who abuse cocaine.  Coca leaves actually provide a medicinal benefit at high altitudes; and there are many high mountains and plateaus in Bolivia.

Chavez also addressed the dilemma of President Manuel Zelaya of Honduras, who is sequestered in the Brazilian embassy in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras.  He praised the ambassador of Honduras to the United Nations as a brave woman.

But it was after his formal speech that Chavez provided sparks.  When Fox News attempted to sucker punch him with a leading question, President Chavez countered with a comment about “stupid people from Fox News.”

Reacting to Fox News’ account about Iranians being killed by security forces, he said he was disgusted that American television have not shown the bodies of children “murdered” by American drone missiles in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Chavez defended himself against those who portray him as an enemy of the trade unions.