"Chavez Calls Bush 'Asshole' "
CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called
President Bush an "asshole" on Sunday for meddling, and vowed never to
quit
office like his Haitian counterpart as troops battled with opposition
protesters demanding a recall referendum against him.
Chavez, who often says the U.S. is backing opposition efforts to topple
his
leftist government, accused Bush of heeding advice from "imperialist"
aides
to support a brief 2002 coup against him.
"He was an asshole to believe them," Chavez roared at the huge rally of
supporters in Caracas. "Mr. Bush must know that if he gets the mad idea
of
trying to blockade Venezuela, or, even worse, of invading Venezuela, if
that
happened, the people of the United States should know that not a drop of
oil
would reach them from Venezuela, not a drop more."
The Venezuelan leader's comments came as fresh violence broke out on the
streets of the capital, where National Guard troops clashed with
opposition
protesters pressing for a vote to end his five-year rule. Military
helicopters roared in low runs overhead as soldiers fired tear gas and
plastic bullets to repel several hundred opposition demonstrators who
threw
stones and set up burning barricades in eastern Caracas late into the
night.
Troops and opposition activists also skirmished in other cities.
But the firebrand populist vowed to defeat any attempt to unseat him and
threatened to cut off oil supplies to the United States from the world's
No.
5 crude oil exporter should Washington try an invasion or trade
sanctions.
"Venezuela is not Haiti and Chavez is not Aristide," he said.
Over 100,000 supporters of Chavez marched earlier on Sunday to protest
what
they condemned as U.S. meddling in Venezuelan affairs.
