Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks to supporters in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Sept. 1, 2006, where thousands of supporters gave Chavez a hero's welcome home from his international tour. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)
Posted on 09/01/2006 8:24:13 PM PDT by NormsRevenge
CARACAS, Venezuela - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez claimed Friday he had uncovered a plot to topple his government, blaming his political opponents and calling them "lackeys" of the United States.
His mention of a coup plot prompted whistles and shouts from thousands of supporters who filled the streets to welcome him home Friday after a foreign tour in which China, Malaysia and Syria offered to support Venezuela's bid for a seat on the 15-member U.N. Security Council.
He called opposition presidential candidates "lackeys of U.S. imperialism."
"I have reports that the counter-revolutionary opposition has a plan to overthrow me in a coup," Chavez said. He gave no other details and did not identify any of the alleged conspirators. But he accused his enemies of planning to repeat a 2002 coup led by dissident generals that briefly drove him from power.
Chavez has warned of numerous alleged plots, though in recent months he has not mentioned any specific report of a conspiracy.
If he wins another six-year term in the December election, Chavez said he plans to call a referendum halfway through the term on whether he should stay on and whether a constitutional prohibition on running for subsequent terms should be eliminated.
The Venezuelan leader's four-nation tour was the latest in a series of international stops coinciding with his country's push for a rotating Security Council seat despite U.S. opposition.
"Support for Venezuela's candidacy to the U.N. Security Council has only grown. Everyday we have more of the world's support to defeat U.S. imperialism in the United Nations," Chavez told the cheering crowd. "For the first time in history, Venezuela truly holds a privileged, respected place in the world because we — for the first time — have a foreign policy that doesn't depend on any world power center."
Washington is lobbying against Venezuela's bid and is backing Guatemala. The race will be decided by the General Assembly in a secret ballot in October.
The Security Council has five permanent members with veto power — the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France — and 10 rotating non-permanent members which serve two-year terms.
Chavez, first elected in 1998, has maintained loyal support partly through oil-funded social programs popular among the poor.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez speaks to supporters in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Sept. 1, 2006, where thousands of supporters gave Chavez a hero's welcome home from his international tour. (AP Photo/Gregorio Marrero)
Chavez vs Chavez?
A supporter of Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez waves to Chavez, unseen, from his balcony where displays a photograph of Cuba's revolutionary hero,Ernesto 'Che' Guevara, in Caracas, Venezuela, Friday, Sept. 1, 2006, where thousands of supporters gave Chavez a hero's welcome home from his international tour. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch)
...and he's making them all up out of his fertile brain.
You found what we wanted you to find, estupido!
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) and his Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad chat with Syrian officials in Damascus August 30, 2006. (Khaled al-Hariri/Reuters)
Somebody please shoot Hugo
Bush's fault.
I wonder if someone could tract Chavez's wild statements and the price of oil. I have noticed twice now that as oil prices have dropped Chavez comes out with this type of crap.
Pat Robertson got it right on this idiot!!
"See? Even my parrot is out to get me!
Chavez has to check under his bed every night in case George Bush is hiding there.
I guess he had to pay them.
Any excuse to tighten the screws...
Watch for opposition leaders etc. to be arrested
and brought in for "questioning".
Which bunch? The Catholic bunch? The independent from Chavez bunch? He is trouble.
Never mind. It's the "you're my political opponent" bunch. He's gonna wipe out his "enemies" a la Stalin.
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