AMY GOODMAN: Mr. President Hugo Chavez, your
assessment of president Bush, of the invasion and occupation
of Iraq? And do you think if it weren't Iraq, it would have
been Venezuela?
HUGO CHAVEZ: The imperialist government of Mr. Bush
planned. What is the U.S. government looking for? And the
elite governing this country? They're looking for oil. This is
part of the crisis that is looming in the horizon. You should
know that the U.S., I already said this, 5% of the world
population lives in this country and you consume 25% of the
energy. That this consumption is partially rational, I am
convinced that the U.S. people will wake up to the reality of
things. Yesterday morning, we were coming from the airport for
instance, it was the traffic jam time, it was very packed in
the highway coming from the airport here. I talked to the
people in my car, looked outside, looked at the cars
surrounding us. Out of a hundred cars, ninety-nine were
occupied by a single person, the driver only. Cars occupying
the highways, and burning fuel, how many gallons of fuel were
burned yesterday morning, polluting the environment? That's
the extreme of individualism. And public transportation, we
don’t see large buses coming from the airport here. So this
is pure individualism, this is capitalism.
This planet cannot stand this model any longer. I think
developed countries-- so-called developed countries should
reflect upon the way of living and the waste of energy. And
the government knows this. The big trans-nationals know this.
The U.S. only has 20 billion barrels of oil in reserve. It
seems as though there is no more oil around. Venezuela has 300
billion barrels of oil in reserves. Iraq has like 150 billion
barrels of oil. Iran, close to 300 billion barrels of reserve.
Oil for 200 years of course. Now, it is clear that the U.S.
government wants that oil. That's why they planned, first they
tried to get the Venezuelan oil and, of course the coup, they
staged against us. That was an oil-motivated coup. They want
to have the control over Venezuelan oil before going for the
Iraq, for Iraq’s oil.
They failed in Venezuela. So they went to attack Iraq. And
the soldiers. And when I saw on TV how they were broadcasting
in the evening news of the tanks attacking Baghdad, advancing
toward Baghdad, and they said the Baghdad population were
going to receive the American marines with flowers. I said,
those people are nuts. They're insane. These people have been
combating for centuries. This is the Mesopotamian people. I
know a little bit of the spirit of the Arab countries. Those
are warriors, ten times more warriors than we are. They've
been struggling in war for many centuries. They're going to
receive, not with flowers, they're going to resist the
occupation. That's the reality we are facing today. The U.S.
government, they fooled the U.S. soldiers, telling them, no,
its going to be a piece of cake, that your going to be
received as heroes, that the Arabian girls will throw flowers
at them. They are drowning in a quagmire of blood and it is
very painful. That’s the risk that is hovering over the
world today. They are now threatening Iraq. There are still
threats over Venezuela. They still think about assassinating
me. There are also plans to invade Venezuela. Now, when you
know the way of thinking of those in the White House, any
insanity is possible. Now, let me tell you this, if the
imperialist government of the White House led an invasion
against Venezuela, well, the war of 100 years will be
unleashed in South America. Because with our teeth, with our
nails with our knees, we will go to struggle and defend our
dignity in South America. Now, I aspire and I pray to God that
this will never occur. We want peace. We want life. We want to
have eternal relations with these sisters countries, sister
nations.
The U.S. people have a major role to play to solve, to save
this planet. Because we're talking about the government. I was
reading recently, Noam Chomsky, I read him very frequently.
And in one of his most recent books, Chomsky, I would like
very much to shake hands with Chomsky. I've been reading him
for a while. I admire him enormously. The name of the book is
“Hegemony or Survival” its what Rosa Luxemburg used to
say, “socialism or barbarism.” We changed to Capitalism,
and we’re going back to the caveman. Chomsky in his book, he
says that two superpowers in this world and I was really
shocked by that idea. I think he’s right after all. I think
the key to save the world is one super power, this government?
And it’s military power? Might? Fear? Technological might
space power, economic might and so on. But what is the other
superpower that could perhaps stop this government. That could
even put an end to imperialism so we can have a true democracy
to help the peoples of the world.
The U.S. Government which will be fully aware of the needs
of Africa, the needs of the poor. Let's assume that we have a
government here in the United States that overnight decides to
cut in half the military expenses and withdraw the troops from
around the world and declare it is the champion of peace of
the world and declare itself an enemy of imperialism and then
devote billions of dollars to the poor. Last year the defense
budget was $400 billion in military defense. Just for one
single year. One single year. For those $400 billion we can go
to Africa, in the poor countries of Asia, in the Caribbean and
Latin America, we can help them.
I’ve learned to appreciate the thinking of John Kennedy.
John Kennedy once said, and that's why he was assassinated,
listen to the South, he said once. The recent revolution going
on in the south in Africa, in Asia, and Latin America. It was
in the 1960's, where the people, the black power was raging.
Che Guevara said, one, two, three, Japan, and Vietnam and
Asia. The world was fed up with misery and inequities. As he
said, the cause of all the revolution is poverty. And he said
this sentence, today more than ever is valid, he said, those
who shut down the doors to peaceful resolutions open the doors
to violent revolutions. That's a reality. I do believe that
the U.S. people – is the other super power that Noam Chomsky
is referring to. What is the other super power? Public
opinion. The peoples of the world. That's the other super
power. And the U.S. People have a major responsibility in the
world. I think that we're going to save the world. And I hope
that you take part in this struggle in the same way we are
doing today. And many other people, women and men in this
country, in this soil.
AMY GOODMAN: Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in a
rare interview speaking with Democracy Now! and Pacifica Radio
at the Venezuelan ambassador to the U.N.'s home in New York.
Coming up, the president speaks about the Cuban, anti-Castro
militant Luis Posada as well as the role of the media and the
aborted coup against Chavez. This is Democracy Now! stay with
us.
