Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, shadowing his political foil US President George W. Bush on a tour of Western Hemisphere nations, said Bush represents the "most cynical, most murderous empire in all of history" but insisted he had nothing personal against him.
"It's not Chavez against Bush or Bush against Chavez," the Venezuelan leader said late on Monday in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince at the close of a five-nation tour of Latin American and Caribbean nations.
"If this were personal it would have been over a long time ago. But you all know this isn't personal," Chavez said. "The president of the United States is the representative of the cruelest, most terrible, most cynical, most murderous empire that has existed in all of history."
Chavez, speaking at a news conference with Haitian President Rene Preval and Cuban Vice President Esteban Lazo, said Bush "represents the imperial plan of domination and colonialism. We represent ... the Bolivarian plan for the liberation of our people."
Preval, whose impoverished nation receives more aid from the US than any country, gave no comment or reaction to Chavez's remarks.
Chavez, who left Nicaragua earlier on Monday as crowds greeted Bush in Guatemala, arrived in Haiti to a rousing welcome by tens of thousands of cheering supporters who lined dusty streets and stood atop crumbling shanty dwellings. Many waved Venezuelan flags, while some chanted, "Down with Bush, long live Chavez!"
Many of those cheering on Chavez were supporters of Haiti's ousted former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was toppled in a bloody 2004 revolt and now lives in exile in South Africa. Aristide, a former priest and champion of the poor masses, accuses the US of knocking him from power in a coup -- a charge Washington denies.
Stopping at the Venezuelan Embassy in Port-au-Prince, Chavez said the welcome to Haiti provoked "indescribable feelings."
"We should begin preparing for ourselves ... to strengthen the unity" between the two countries, he said to Preval. "This is a heroic people, the Haitian people. So heroic but so downtrodden."
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