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Chavez says end is near for U.S. "empire"(EFE Ingles Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge)La Paz, Jan 23 (EFE).- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said here Monday that what he describes as the U.S. empire is nearing its end. "The empire has entered the phase of desperation, like a vampire who sees dawn approaching and realizes that he still has not sucked enough blood," the outspoken leftist said in a long speech after receiving an honorary degree from San Andres University in La Paz. The Venezuelan traveled to Bolivia for Sunday's swearing-in of socialist Evo Morales as this Andean nation's first Indian president. "Today, that cry of Karl Marx has more sense than ever: socialism or death, socialism or barbarism," Chavez said Monday, telling the assembled students and faculty that it is necessary "to bury the U.S. empire this year" or risk losing hard-won gains. Referring to U.S. talk of international action against Iran in response to that nation's alleged aim to develop nuclear weapons, the Venezuelan said that Washington has Tehran in its sights "because (the Iranians) were capable of freeing themselves from imperialism" and recovering control of their natural resources. "The United States invaded Iraq for oil; it doesn't care about democracy or life. They are desperate because their reserves of gas and oil are running out," Chavez said. He went on to accuse the Bush administration of planning to invade oil-rich Venezuela for the same reason, but said that "capitalism and its ideologues" should realize an attack on his country would only accelerate the process of their own destruction. "There is no other path than socialism to save the world," the Venezuelan leader said. "Imperialism will end up being a paper tiger, and we, tigers of steel." Chavez, a former army colonel first elected in late 1998, is a friend and admirer of Cuba's Fidel Castro who is using his country's oil wealth to undermine U.S. influence in Latin America. Diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington have become embittered with mutual accusations that brand the U.S. government under George W. Bush as "imperialist and interventionist," while Chavez is slammed for his "totalitarian ambitions." EFE rs/dr |