''HIS COMMENTS CAME AS THE US IMPOSED SANCTIONS ON VENEZUELA, BANNING ALL ARMS SALES FOR WHAT IT BELIEVES IS A LACK OF ASSISTANCE IN WASHINGTON'S WAR ON TERROR." = [PNAC 'War OF Terror' - FPF]

He calls Bush 'Hitler' and Blair 'the pawn'. - [Based on my experience, Chavez is totally correct. - HR] - Even his supporters have dubbed President Chavez of Venezuela 'The Crackers from Caracas'. We ask..

By Rosa Prince Political Correspondent

16 May 2006 - The Mirror - UK - The last time Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez came to Britain, he had tea with the Queen and was embraced by Tony Blair. But on his latest trip yesterday, the controversial leader preferred to have a lunch hosted by fellow left-winger Ken Livingstone.

It is not surprising that Mr Blair and Mr Chavez are not meeting this time, as the president recently dubbed the PM an "imperialist pawn" who shares the same bed as President Bush. Larger-than-life Chavez - called "The Crackers from Caracas" by his own supporters - has also labelled Mr Bush "Hitler" and said he's the world's biggest mass murderer.

Chavez, who last visited Britain in 2001, said of the US leader: "He is an assassin. He is a criminal responsible for genocide - completely immoral.

"I BELIEVE THAT HE SHOULD BE PUT IN JAIL. HE HAS INVADED A COUNTRY. ARE WE BOMBING CITIES?"

The Venezuelan rebel is attempting to forge a South American power-base to rival Washington as he seeks a new socialist world order.

His policy of exporting oil to 'Communist' Cuba and other Caribbean countries at preferential rates has been heavily criticised, but Chavez jokes he is building an "Axis of Good" - an echo of Mr Bush's much-repeated description of Iraq, Iran and North Korea as the "Axis of Evil".

On Saturday, Chavez announced at a gathering of non-governmental groups and social movements in Vienna, Austria, that he wants to provide cheap heating oil for low-income Europeans. The deal would be similar to one he worked out last winter to help needy Americans - a move which some US commentators saw as a jibe at Bush.

AND during his lunch with London mayor Mr Livingstone, Chavez lived up to his left-wing credentials by proposing a plan to send heating oil to the poor in London for free or discount prices.

[FPF: Blair is standing on 22.000 corpses - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/p3mos]

He said that Venezuela's Government should meet with the representatives of two refineries in Britain.

Guests at yesterday's gala lunch for Chavez included playwright Harold Pinter - [ http://tinyurl.com/puav6] - and activist Bianca Jagger. He also spoke at the House of Commons where he met several left-wing Labour MPs, including Diane Abbott, Tony Lloyd and Dawn Butler.

In his oil-rich homeland, he is loved for helping the poor by using his country's natural wealth, ending illiteracy with social reforms and improving health care. But critics say he has brutally suppressed opposition, rigged elections and squandered the oil resources on his grandiose ambitions.

The London Assembly Conservatives' leader Bob Neill, who boycotted the lunch, said: "I am appalled that Londoners are paying to entertain this dictator. I believe that this man should be shunned by every moderate regime in the world, not wined and dined like a legitimate world leader." - [FPF: PNAC's war criminals are OK?]

Downing Street has insisted Mr Chavez's visit is a private one and that his failure to meet the Prime Minister is not a snub.

Venezuelans, however, say the trip is designed to established stronger economic links with the UK, and the president will meet several leading politicians and business leaders during his stay.

HE REVEALED YESTERDAY THAT HE IS "CERTAIN" IRAN'S NUCLEAR PROGRAMME IS NOT A FRONT FOR SECRET EFFORTS TO PRODUCE AN ATOMIC BOMB.

CHAVEZ added at a news conference with Livingstone: "I don't believe that the United States or anyone else has the right to prohibit that a country has nuclear energy.

"How many countries in the world have nuclear energy? Unfortunately, Venezuela doesn't have it."

He repeated a warning that any military strike against Iran would send the price of crude oil soaring above $100 a barrel. But he said that such an attack on Iran would not prompt Venezuela to reduce its oil deliveries to the United States.

The world should do everything it can to avoid such a conflict, he said, adding that "Europe has an important role to play."

His comments came as the US imposed sanctions on Venezuela, banning all arms sales for what it believes is a lack of assistance in Washington's war on terror. - [The PNAC's US is the worst terror state on earth - HR]

A US official said the Government was concerned about Chavez's friendly relationship with Cuba and Iran, two countries it says sponsor terrorism, and his failure to stop Colombian leftist guerrillas using Venezuelan territory. [Another bloody PNAC lie! - HR]

[Lies/propaganda and the same stupidities all over again. - HR]

THE MOVE PUTS THE TWO NATIONS' TIES TO THEIR WORST LEVEL IN DECADES.

But the sanctions may not make much difference. Last year, on Chavez's orders, Venezuela's military began shifting arms-purchasing to non-US sources, including Brazil, China, Russia, and Spain.

In the meantime, Chavez will carry on meeting world leaders.

Before his London visit, he was given an audience with the Pope.

He now goes on to his next appointment - a meeting with Colonel Gaddafi in Libya.*

 R.PRINCE@MIRROR.CO.UK

[andend] - Story - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/rzcnm


RELATED: Reliable news agency in Venezuela: VHeadline.com - "US ban on arms sales? Wow! Venezuela's absolutely shaking in its shoes!" - Url.:  http://www.vheadline.com/main.asp

* Libya: Evidence faked by the CIA says Scotland Yard - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/84tto

* I've lived and worked as foreign correspondent for ten years next door: Libya had nothing to do with the Lockerbie crash nor the bombing of the La Belle discothéque, Libya had NO weapons of mass destruction nor a nuclear program. All this was used in US PNAC terror - and the whole array of lies published in their associated propaganda press. - FPF/Libya - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/lx5ko

Special on the PNAC and the UK: Among the best one could see on TV concerning the illegal war in Iraq and the framing attack by one of the worst PNAC thugs in the US Senate Coleman/Kohlmann: Galloway swept the Senate floor with him - Video: Galloway takes on US oil accusers - Url.:  http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article8869.htm - or choose format via Google - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/a6hc4

FPF/HR - STRONGLY RELATED LINKS - Url.:  http://tinyurl.com/gkgrb

HR this far has lived and worked abroad more than 4 decades for national and international media, including the BBC and CBS - when they still knew what honest journalism was - as an independent foreign correspondent. Of which 10 years - also during Gulf War I - in the 'Arab World' and the Middle East. Seeing worldwide that every bullet and every bomb breeds more terrorism !

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