Chavez: U.S. Threatened by Leftist Leaders (receives UNESCO and Cuba sponsored 'Marti' award)

AP on Yahoo ^ | 2/3/06 | Vanessa Arrington - ap

[NormsRevenge]

HAVANA - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, receiving a U.N. prize handed over by Fidel Castro on Friday, said Washington was right to be concerned by Latin America's tilt to the left because it represents a threat to the U.S. "empire."

Chavez was visiting Havana amid an intensifying propaganda war between Washington and Latin America's leftist leaders. U.S. Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld compared Chavez to Adolf Hitler and warned darkly Thursday about populist leadership in Bolivia and Cuba.

"They are right to be worried, because they know what's happening here," Chavez said in a speech lasting more than 2 1/2 hours after accepting his prize. "They will forever try to preserve the U.S. empire by all means, while we will do everything possible to shred it."

Some 200,000 Cubans crowded Revolution Plaza for Friday night's ceremony granting Chavez UNESCO's 2005 Jose Marti International Prize. Cuban President Castro himself handed over the framed certificate to Chavez, a close ally.

The forum gave Castro and Chavez a chance to pat each other on the back and promote regional solidarity while bashing the U.S. government. Thousands of young Venezuelans, Bolivians and other Latin Americans studying medicine for free in Cuba attended the ceremony, screaming their support for both leaders.

Marti, who died in 1895 during Cuba's war of independence with Spain, has been glorified in Cuba as the ultimate anti-imperialist, a label both Chavez and Castro have embraced for themselves in their struggles with the United States.

Far from seeing them as regional heroes, the Bush administration considers the men to be populists who threaten democracy and individual rights.

Rumsfeld expressed the same fears about Bolivia's new leftist president, Evo Morales, during a National Press Club appearance Thursday. "We've seen some populist leadership appealing to masses of people in those countries. And elections like Evo Morales in Bolivia take place that clearly are worrisome."

"I mean, we've got Chavez in Venezuela with a lot of oil money. He's a person who was elected legally — just as Adolf Hitler was elected legally — and then consolidated power and now is, of course, working closely with Fidel Castro and Mr. Morales and others."

Chavez downplayed Rumsfeld's Hitler comparison.

"Let the dogs of the empire bark, that's their job," he said. "Ours is to battle to achieve the true liberation of our people."

Castro also rejected Rumsfeld's comments, defending populism in his hour-long speech before Chavez took to the podium.

"Populist leaders are those who concern themselves with their people, with health, with education," said the Cuban leader.

"More dangerous are those who possess dozens of thousands of nuclear weapons," added Castro, referring to the U.S. government.

Earlier in the day, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel also hit back, calling President Bush "the North American Hitler" and comparing his administration to the Third Reich.

The Marti prize was created by UNESCO in 1994 on the initiative of Cuba to recognize an individual or institution contributing to the unity and integration of countries of Latin America and the Caribbean.

It is awarded by UNESCO on the recommendation of a seven-member international jury that includes Nadine Gordimer, the South African winner of the Nobel Prize for Literature. Earlier recipients of the $5,000 prize include the Mexican sociologist Pablo Gonzalez Casanova and the Ecuadorean painter Oswaldo Guayasamin.

The Cuban government finances the prize, but does not always host the awards ceremony.

Marti is a hero both for Cubans on the island and exiles living overseas. The politician and poet himself spent 15 years in exile in New York, where he is honored by a statue at the entrance to Central Park.

[NormsRevenge]

In this handout photo released by Venezuela's Miraflores Press, Cuba's leader Fidel Castro, left, and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez hold UNESCO's 2005 Jose Marti International Prize awarded to Chavez in Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006. Marti, who died in 1895 during Cuba's war of independence with Spain, has been glorified in Cuba as the ultimate anti-imperialist, a label both Chavez and Castro have embraced for themselves in their struggles with the United States. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press,Marcelo Garcia)

[NormsRevenge]

In this handout photo released by Venezuela's Miraflores Press, Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez holds up his 2005 UNESCO Jose Marti International Prize as Cuba's leader Fidel Castro applauds in Revolution Plaza in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Feb. 3, 2006. Marti, who died in 1895 during Cuba's war of independence with Spain, has been glorified in Cuba as the ultimate anti-imperialist, a label both Chavez and Castro have embraced for themselves in their struggles with the United States. (AP Photo/Miraflores Press,Marcelo Garcia)

[bybybill]

Time to take this turkey out

[MJY1288]

Yup, and blame it on the Jihadists

[darkwing104]

Dream on Hugo...

In my analysis..Hugo is about as important as a gnat on the** of a mange infested water buffalo.

[rlmorel]

"...Chavez said in a speech lasting more than 2 1/2 hours after accepting his prize..."

These socialist, communist types sure do know how to spew hot air...

[Mind-numbed Robot]

Do we need to know any more about the uN than their giving out this prize?

[RedMonqey]

"These socialist, communist types sure do know how to spew hot air..."

And it's easy to keep the large audience "enthralled" when you can shoot those who try to exit early.