BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

24/07/2006

Chavez Praises Belarus

MINSK, Belarus, July 23 (Reuters) - President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela on Sunday praised Belarus, which is accused in the West of crushing fundamental rights, as a model state and called for joint efforts to counter "hegemonic" capitalism.

Mr. Chavez, a self-described leftist revolutionary who commands vast oil revenues, stopped in Belarus on a world tour that is partly aimed at winning support for his effort to gain a place for Venezuela on the United Nations Security Council.

"Belarus is a model of a social state, which we are also building," Mr. Chavez told reporters at the Minsk airport at the start of a two-day visit. "We must defend the interests of the individual and not the hegemonic interests of the capitalists, wherever they may be, in Europe or Latin America."

Source:

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/24/world/americas/24chavez.html

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