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Venezuela's Chavez considering arming one million people
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-05 09:53
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Saturday that he was considering the
purchase of enough rifles to arm one million Venezuelans ready to repel a
possible U.S. invasion.
During a speech warning his supporters that Washington was considering an
invasion of Venezuela, Chavez said that 100,000 Russian-built Kalashnikov
assault rifles would not be enough to defend the country.
"We still need a higher number of rifles. The 100,000 Russian rifles are not
enough, Venezuela needs to have one million well-equipped and well-armed men and
women," he said.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talks to his
supporters during a rally, to back the left-wing leader, on the
anniversary of a failed 1992 coup attempt he led as a young army officer,
in Caracas February 4, 2006.[Reuters] | "I've started making contacts with some countries" that would be able to
supply the rifles, Chavez told the crowd of supporters to a rousing applause.
Tensions between Washington and Caracas have been tense in recent months in
part due to U.S. criticism of Venezuela's purchases of military equipment,
including 100,000 Russian-made assault rifles.
During Saturday's speech, Chavez extended his war of words with Washington,
comparing U.S. President George W. Bush to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler while
commemorating a failed 1992 coup he led as a lieutenant colonel.
"If any president in this world is similar, including physically, to Adolf
Hitler it is Mr. Danger," said Chavez, prompting cheers from his supporters
following a march through Caracas.
"The imperialist, mass murdering, fascist attitude of the president of the
United States doesn't have limits. I think Hitler could be a nursery baby next
to George W. Bush," Chavez added.
The Venezuelan leader's statements came amid one of the worst diplomatic
spats between Caracas and Washington in recent years.
They came in response to comments made on Thursday by U.S. Defense Secretary
Donald H. Rumsfeld, who compared Chavez to Hitler and warned darkly about
populist leadership in Bolivia and Cuba.
Earlier Saturday, tens of thousands of Chavez supporters wearing replicas of
the president's trademark beret marched through the Venezuelan capital shouting
"Yankee Imperialism, No! Revolution, Yes!"
"Chavistas," as the president's backers are known, accused the United States
of conspiring to overthrow Chavez, saying U.S. spies have attempted to stir
discontent within the military in hopes of ousting him.
"The gringos are trying to infiltrate Venezuela's armed forces, but Chavez is
here to stay," said Vladimir Enriquez, a 44-year-old mechanic.
Enriquez, and others who joined the sea of government supporters, criticized
Washington for ordering a Venezuelan diplomat to leave the country in what the
State Department said Friday was retaliation for the expulsion of a U.S. naval
officer from Caracas a day earlier.
Venezuela expelled U.S. naval attache John Correa for allegedly passing
secret information from Venezuelan military officers to the Pentagon.
Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Saturday that Chavez "would soon
present conclusive and irrefutable proof of the naval commander's conspiratorial
activities."
"We aren't going to present them to (U.S. Ambassador William) Brownfield, we
are going to present them to the Venezuelan people," he said.
On the other side of Caracas, thousands of opposition sympathizers marched to
protest what they perceive as increasing authoritarianism under Chavez and
strongly condemned the bloody coup attempt he led as a lieutenant colonel 14
years ago.
More than 80 civilians and 17 soldiers were killed on February 4, 1992,
before troops loyal to then-President Carlos Andres Perez quelled the
short-lived putsch. Chavez has celebrated the rebellion's anniversary every year
since he took office in 1999.
Chavez supporters remember the failed coup as a violent but justified attempt
to replace a corrupt government.
The president's political adversaries argue the failed coup was an
unnecessary uprising that threatened one of South America's oldest democracies.
"Venezuela's democracy is threatened" by Chavez, said 60-year-old retiree
Luis Cuevas, who accused the president of "looking for problems with the United
States" as a means of turning attention away from the country's domestic
problems.
Chavez has repeatedly accused the United States of plotting to overthrow him,
or even invade Venezuela. He says an invasion would trigger an immediate halt to
oil shipments. Washington has strongly denied any such plans.
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