Chavez says revolution on track after 10 years in office
VENEZUELA: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said yesterday that his
socialist revolution was on track as he celebrated 10 years in office
before a group of Latin American leaders.
This past decade can be summed up "in three words: revolution,
independence and socialism," the fiercely anti-American President said
beneath the statue of Venezuela's forefather Simon Bolivar, a replica of
whose sword he received to honor the occasion.
"This sword saw Bolivar die and we could say it died with him ...
nobody saw it ever again," Chavez, 54, said in a speech, two weeks
before a referendum that could keep him in power for a long time.
"Ten years ago, on a day like today, the sword reappeared after
nearly 200 years. Ten years ago, Bolivar became the people and returned
with his liberating sword," he added in an obvious reference to when he
was first sworn in 1999.
Thousands of people lining one of Caracas' main avenues cheered as
Chavez waved from an open-top car when he made his way to the Bolivar
monument accompanied by presidents Evo Morales of Bolivia, Daniel Ortega
of Nicaragua and Manuel Zelaya of Honduras.
To celebrate his milestone in power, Chavez declared a national
holiday on Monday.
Also present to celebrate Chavez's 10th anniversary were Cuban Vice
President Jose Ramon Machado and Dominica Prime Minister Roosevelt
Skerrit.
The leaders later held a meeting in the framework of the Bolivarian
Alternative initiative, better known as Alba, which Chavez and Cuba
created in 2004 to promote a Latin American free trade zone as a
counterweight to US trade efforts in the region.
In foreign policy, the fiercely anti-US Chavez has cultivated ties
with countries which could counterweight Washington's traditional
influence in the region, including Russia, Belarus, Iran and China.
Caracas, Tuesday, AFP
|