Chavez: "We have to help Obama"

http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5864ME20090907

Venezuela's Chavez says hopes can work with Obama
Mon Sep 7, 2009 6:45pm EDT

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By Mike Collett-White and Cindy Martin

VENICE (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a fierce critic
of U.S. foreign policy who once called George W. Bush "the devil,"
said on Monday he hoped to be able to work more closely with President
Barack Obama.

The leftist 55-year-old leader added in an interview in Italy that
despite the global economic crisis and signs of a slowdown in growth
in Venezuela, he did not expect his country to fall into recession.

Chavez was in Venice for the world premiere of "South of the Border,"
director Oliver Stone's sympathetic portrait of a leader he says has
championed the poor and who has been unfairly demonized by the U.S.
media.

"I have no reason to call him (Obama) the devil, and I hope that I am
right," Chavez told reporters in Venice.

"With Obama we can talk, we are almost from the same generation, one
can't deny that Obama is different (from Bush). He's intelligent, he
has good intentions and we have to help him."

Stone's documentary argues that the economy has grown under Chavez's
rule and poverty levels have fallen sharply, all without the help of
bailout loans from foreign lenders.

Asked in an interview with Reuters whether the fact that Venezuela's
economy shrank for the first time in more than five years during the
second quarter of 2009 could mean austerity measures ahead, Chavez
replied:

"There is no recession in Venezuela. There has been a slight slowdown
in growth but that is something logical because of the great worldwide
recession in capitalism.

"We have taken some steps but unemployment continues to fall and
production continues to rise. Venezuela has been affected by the
crisis but has not and will not go into recession," added the
president, who sat next to Stone.

"REAL DEMOCRATIC MODEL"

Chavez also said his democratic credentials remained intact despite
concerns over moves to crack down on the independent media and
political opposition.

Thousands of people took to the streets of Caracas over the weekend to
voice their opposition to the president, who has been in power for a
decade and says he needs another 10 years to pursue his socialist
reforms.

"In Venezuela, no television channel has been closed despite the fact
that in many cases the television channels supported a coup d'etat,"
he said.

"Noam Chomsky ... was asked in an interview what would happen if Fox
News or CNN had supported a coup against a president. Chomsky replied
that not only would those channels have been closed, but their owners
would have been sent to the electric chair.

"I'm entirely dedicated to building a real democratic model in
Venezuela. As Abraham Lincoln said, what is democracy? It is not the
system by which a rich minority exploits the people. It is government
by the people and for the people." Continued...