Hugo Chávez Claims U.S. Gives Leaders Cancer and More
Crazy Quotes
Hugo Chávez says the U.S. may be
giving world leaders cancer. From the “devil” Bush to what he thinks killed
Mars, read some of the Venezuelan despot's most outlandish comments.
1. Blames U.S. for Cancer, 2011
When even Chávez claims something is “very difficult
to explain,” you have to know that things are about to get very weird. The Venezuelan president said on Dec. 29 that the
U.S. has been using cancer as a weapon in South America, given the high rates
of cancer. “Would it be so strange that they’ve invented technology to spread
cancer and we won’t know about it for 50 years?” Chávez asked in a speech to
the military. Chávez has been treated in recent months for an undisclosed form
of cancer, and he joins a long list of other South American leaders with
cancer, including Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff and her predecessor, Luiz
Inácio Lula da Silva, as well as Paraguay’s Fernando Lugo and, most recently,
Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner. Chávez followed up by
saying, “I’m just sharing my thoughts, but it’s very, very, very strange.” He
also said former Cuban leader Fidel Castro used to warn him
about U.S.-backed assassination attempts. “Fidel always tells me, ‘Chávez be
careful, they’ve developed technology, be careful with what you eat, they could
stick you with a small needle,” Chávez said.
2. Blames U.S. Weapons Test for Haiti Earthquake, 2010
Chávez’s cancer claims aren’t the first time he has
accused the U.S. of being responsible for unspeakable horrors. In 2010 he
claimed that a U.S. weapons
test caused the devastating Haitian earthquake, which claimed
some 230,000 lives.
3. Calls Condoleezza Rice ‘Little Girl,’ 2007
What did Condoleezza Rice ever to do attract
so much attention from dictators? Rice was a repeated target of Chávez's, who
frequently referred to the secretary of state as a “little girl.” In a 2007
radio address he said, “What does the empire want? Condoleezza said it. How are
you? You’ve forgotten me, missy.” When Rice
referred to Venezuela as a menace to regional democracy in 2006, Chávez issued
a warning to her, blowing a kiss at her and referring her to as “Condolence.”
“Remember, little girl, I’m like the thorn tree that flowers on the plain,”
Chávez said. “Don’t mess with me, Condoleezza. Don’t mess with me, girl.”
4. U.S. Occupied Haiti in Disguise of Aid
Prior to blaming the U.S. for the Haitian earthquake,
Chávez had previously decided the U.S. was using the
earthquake as an excuse to “occupy” Haiti “undercover” —and the
U.S. only wanted to get to Venezuela, for oil. “I read that 3,000 soldiers are
arriving, Marines armed as if they are going to war,” Chávez said in his weekly
television show. “On top of that, you don’t see them [the military] in the
streets. Are they picking up the bodies? … Are they looking for the injured?
You don’t see them. I haven’t seen them. Where are they?” Chávez said he didn’t
wish to diminish any humanitarian efforts; he just questioned why soldiers were
necessary.
In a speech about World Water Day, Chávez mentioned a
previously unknown victim of the water wars: Mars. That’s right,
Chávez claimed that he had “always said” that “it would not be strange to hear
that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there,
imperialism arrived, and finished off the planet.” Chávez holds capitalism
responsible for many of the world’s problems, and he blamed it for the drying
up of Earth’s resources as well. “Here on planet Earth, where hundreds of years
ago or less there were great forests, now there are deserts,” he said.
In a speech at the United Nations’ General
Assembly—which seems to be a frequent place for some crazy
rants—Chávez declared that President George W. Bush was “the devil.”
“He came in here talking like he owned the world,” Chávez said about Bush.
Chávez said Bush promoted “democracy for the elite” and a “democracy of bombs,”
and then called on the U.N. to break free from the U.S.’s influence. Saying the
U.N. “doesn’t work,” Chávez said “Let’s be honest … the U.N. system born after
World War II collapsed. It doesn’t work.” After the speech, Chávez refused to
back down from his comments about the U.S., saying in a press
conferencet hat the country is “on its way down,” which would be
“for the good of all mankind.”
7. Calls Bush a ‘Donkey’ and ‘Drunkard,’ 2006
Calling Bush “the devil” was not the only time Chávez
threw barbed words toward the U.S. president. In a 2006 weekly television
address, Chávez called Busha “donkey” after
the White House called Chávez a “demagogue.” “You’re an alcoholic, Mr. Danger;
or rather, you’re a drunkard,” Chávez said. “Drunkard” was one of his favorite
insults for Bush, who was public about his struggles with drinking in his
younger days.
Chávez continued to hurl insults at Bush. When the
U.S. State Department expressed concern about the Venezuelan government’s
decision to allow Chávez more lawmaking powers, Chávez used his weekly radio address to tell the U.S.,
“Go to hell, gringos! Go home!” Chávez also criticized the U.S.’s involvement
in Iraq, saying, “They took out Saddam Hussein and hung him, for good or for
worse. It’s not up to me to judge any government, but that man was president of
that country.”
9. Calls Israel’s 2006 Offensive a ‘New Holocaust’
The U.S. was not the only target of Chávez’s
criticisms. In a 2006 radio and television broadcast, Chávez declared Israel
had “gone mad” and accused the country of a “new holocaust.” In similar
rhetoric that Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and former North Korean
dictator Kim Jong-il were using at the time, Chávez said Israel was “attacking
children, and no one knows how many have been buried.”
10. Calls Robert Mugabe a ‘Freedom Fighter’
Keeping with his tradition of aligning himself with
misunderstood foreign leaders, Chávez praised Zimbabwean dictator Robert Mugabe as a “freedom
fighter” at the G-15 summit for developing nations in 2004. “I give you a
replica of liberator Simon Bolívar’s sword,” Chávez said, referring to the
19th-century South American revolutionary. “For you, like Bolívar, took up arms
to liberate your people. For you, who, like Bolívar, are and will always be a
true freedom fighter. [Mugabe] continues, alongside his people, to confront the
pretensions of new imperialists.” Mugabe must have been pleased with the sword:
he smiled as he unsheathed it, and then swung it around.
11. Equates Halloween With ‘Terrorism,’ 2005
Foreign policy is not the only area where Chávez made
some wacky comments. In a 2005 weekly radio and television broadcast, Chávez
took the chance to attack a favorite American holiday: Halloween. Comparing
Halloween to “terrorism,” Chávez said the observance of the holiday is
“strictly gringa.” “Families go and begin to disguise their children as
witches. That is contrary to our way.”
12. Attacks ‘Monstrous’ Breast Implants, 2011
Chávez also is not against criticizing his own people.
In 2011 the president took to a “monstrous thing” he had been witnessing in his
country: breast
implants. Venezuela has one of the world’s highest plastic-surgery rates per
capita, and Chávez criticized the doctors who “convince some women if they
don’t have big bosoms, they should feel bad.” “It is a painful thing to see
girls or women that may not have sufficient resources for housing, to
accommodate housing for the children, [to buy] clothes, who are looking to see
how to do an operation on the breasts.”
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario