As Libya continues to make headlines this week and more governments around the world condemn the actions of the Libyan leader, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez breaks out of the mold once again by vociferously voicing his allegiance to Qadhafi. In defending his Libyan friend, Chávez suggests that the United States is prepared to invade Libya.“What do they want? Libya’s oil,” Chávez has said.
But in fairness to Chávez, he is not the only Latin American leader to express allegiance to Qadhafi. He joins Cuba’s Raúl Castro and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega in going all out in defense of Qadhafi. This shouldn’t surprise anyone. For years, Chávez and Qadhafi have enjoyed a venerable partnership “based on shared military backgrounds, left-wing economic ideas, antagonistic relations with the United States, and membership for both their nations of the OPEC oil producer group.” Chávez has visited Qadhafi in Tripoli several times and, as reported by The Wall Street Journal, he “recently signed a $1 billion economic agreement that included handing over Hato Piñero, a world-class nature preserve he recently expropriated, to a Libyan agricultural commune.”
Taking his praise of Qadhafi to a new level, Chávez has said that Qadhafi is to the Libyan people what Simón Bolívar is to Venezuelans. During Qadhafi’s visit to Caracas in 2009, Chávez amplified that gesture by gifting the Libyan leader a replica of the historic sword that belonged to Simón Bolívar.
It has been rumored that Qadhafi may seek refuge in Venezuela but, according to The Jerusalem Post, Qadhafi’s own sons are urging him to seek asylum in Nicaragua. For now, it is evident that the Libyan leader has no plans to step down or flee his country.