Wednesday, 25th November 2009
President Chavez - this is what Europe thinks
Dear Sir,
It is just as well that President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela doesn't care what we say about him in Europe (Chavez hails 'revolutionary' Jackal - Scotsman 23 November). This week he is hosting President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad of Iran and treating him like an international hero. In a speech of welcome in Caracas, he went on to praise the infamous assassin - Carlos the Jackal - as a revolutionary hero and hailed Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe, referring to him as his 'brother'.
In Ahmadinejad, Chavez will find a willing supporter. His courts in Tehran have just announced sentences on the first 86 people convicted of taking to the streets in protest, following the fraudulent presidential elections this summer. Five have been sentenced to death. A further 81 have been sentenced to prison terms ranging from 6 months to 15 years. Ahmadinejad presides over a fascist theocracy that routinely hangs people in public, gouges out their eyes, stones people to death and flogs and tortures women and minors. He has transformed Iran into one of the world's most repressive states, actively exporting terrorism to neighbouring Middle Eastern countries and even further afield.
This is the person on whom President Chavez heaps adulation and hugs like an old friend.
If he doesn't care what we say about him in Europe, then let me say this: President Chavez, your attitude is disgraceful. You bring shame to the office you hold and shame to your country. The sooner you are out of office the better.
Struan Stevenson MEP
