Posted on 03/23/2003 2:35:09 AM PST by Cincinatus' Wife
CARACAS, Venezuela - President Hugo Chavez said he does not support the U.S.-led war in Iraq and applauded positions taken by other countries and protesters opposed to war.
"Venezuela rejects ... the war which has been unleashed in recent days," Chavez said Saturday. "We are highly comforted to know that the great majority of the world's countries have come out against the war in Iraq."
The president's comments were his first openly condemning the U.S. policy of invading Iraq. Other senior ministers had previously criticized the military action, however.
Chavez also congratulated anti-war protesters in New York on a high turnout Saturday.
Chavez, who has declared 2003 his "year on the offensive" against his numerous political foes, said the only wars he supports are those against poverty, hunger and death.
In 2000, Chavez irritated the United States by becoming the first head of state to visit Saddam Hussein after the 1991 Gulf War. Washington also reacted angrily when the Venezuelan leader criticized civilian deaths during the U.S.-led bombing campaign against Afghanistan.
The leftist president was speaking at a forum on the ideology of his self-proclaimed "Bolivarian Revolution" in Venezuela, which aims to redistribute the country's vast oil wealth to its poor majority.
Chavez's opponents say his four-year rule has ruined the national economy, divided the population and isolated Venezuela internationally.
I am Hugo.
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