Posted on 06/08/2003 3:53:13 PM PDT by decimon
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez described himself on Sunday as "ugly" and "sometimes uncouth" but said he was not a communist and did not believe communism could work in his oil-rich country. Defending his turbulent rule in the world's No. 5 oil exporter, the populist leader dismissed criticism of his appearance, behavior and politics.
"I'm ugly ... black mixed with Indian, that's me," he said, referring jokingly but proudly to his mixed-race ancestry which he shares with most of Venezuela's population.
"I'm a little uncouth sometimes. What can I do? I'm not going to change," Chavez added, speaking during his weekly "Hello President" television and radio show.
Chavez rose from obscurity to become a national figure in 1992 when he tried to seize power in a botched coup. Launching a political career after two years in jail, he won a landslide election in late 1998, promising a self-styled "revolution" to help his country's poor majority.
But his opponents, who have waged a determined campaign of protests and strikes against him, accuse Chavez of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuba-style communism.
"I am not a communist ... if I was, I would say so," Chavez said. He added this distinguished him from Cuban President Fidel Castro, with whom he has forged a close alliance that has irked the United States, the main buyer of Venezuela's oil.
"Fidel Castro, my friend and brother, is a communist, but Venezuela's project is not communist," Chavez said. "At this moment in Venezuela, the program cannot be a communist one."
Thats the key part, tommorow is a different day.
Poor fellow is just misunderstood. People think that Lenin was communist but he was just some guy who made a wrong turn at Frankfurt.
***Thats the key part, tommorow is a different day***
CARACAS, Venezuela - Meeting in a downtown park to avoid their rivals, lawmakers loyal to President Hugo Chavez adopted parliamentary procedures that allow them to swiftly pass several new laws, including one that would tighten restrictions on the media. The lawmakers, gathering in tents in a poor neighborhood of hard-core Chavez supporters, adopted new debate rules intended to make it more difficult to block legislation supported by the president. Opposition members of Congress said they did not recognize the legitimacy of the vote. ---Pro-Chávez lawmakers change rules of Congress in outdoor session ***Chávez praised the outdoor session as ''historic'' and announced that his leftist ''revolution has entered a new phase.'' But some opposition Congress members said they would ask the Supreme Court for a ruling on the legality of the government move.
At the heart of the dispute lies the pro-Chávez legislators' ability to ease through a half-dozen bills -- all regarded by the opposition as authoritarian and potentially repressive -- held up in a parliamentary commission on which the Chávez supporters are a minority.
One is a media bill criticized by human rights organizations as a direct threat to freedom of expression. Another would add an extra 12 judges to the 20-member supreme court, in what the opposition sees as an attempt to ensure a pro-government majority.
The rule change introduced at Friday's session will allow the Congress to vote on the bills. However, the bitterness of the current dispute casts doubt on the continued functioning of the legislature and on the recent agreement brokered by Organization of American States Secretary General César Gaviria, aimed at resolving the country's political crisis.
...........Pointing out that the president had consistently argued for the introduction of ''people's power'' and against representative, liberal democracy, Garrido said Chávez's political project had ``moved to a different level.'' Ameliach announced Friday that such outdoor sessions would be held ``whenever and wherever necessary in order to guarantee the sovereign people [that we are carrying out] our functions as legislators.'' ***
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.