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Iran's Ahmadinejad to tour Latin America

Jan 10 2007

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is to kick off a four-day tour Saturday to Ecuador, Nicaragua and Venezuela, whose leaders share his defiance towards the United States, media said.
"Ahmadinejad will start his visit with a trip to Venezuela to hold official talks with his counterpart President Hugo Chavez," the Kayhan newspaper quoted a presidential statement as saying.
The Iranian president has maintained a close relationship with his fiery Venezuelan counterpart, who has given his unequivocal support to Iran's nuclear programme and its hostility towards the United States.
Ahmadinejad visited Venezuela last September while Chavez has made numerous trips to the Islamic republic.
After his one day visit to Caracas, Ahmadinejad is scheduled to head to Managua to hold talks with the Nicaraguan president elect and former US foe Daniel Ortega.
According to the report, the Iranian president will on Monday take part in the swearing-in ceremony of the Ecuador's new president Rafael Correa, who won his country's presidential election last November.
Correa has vowed to seek stronger ties with Venezuela, oppose a free-trade deal with the United States, and not renew the lease for a US military air base on Ecuador's Pacific Coast.
Ahmadinejad will also hold meetings with other South American presidents including Bolivia's Evo Morales, before wrapping up his tour on Tuesday, the report added.

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http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/01/10/070110084205.4qg8ei0r.html

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Chavez sworn in for radical new term in Venezuela
By Saul Hudson
CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez was sworn in on Wednesday for a new six-year term that he vowed to use to press a radical socialist revolution including nationalizations that have roiled financial markets.
Emboldened by his landslide re-election win, the typically combative anti-U.S. leader has gone on the attack, deciding to strip a private opposition TV channel of its license and take over some major companies owned by foreign investors.
"Fatherland, socialism or death -- I take the oath," Chavez said.
The man who calls Cuban President
Fidel Castro his mentor changed tradition by draping the presidential sash from his left shoulder instead of his right in what he says is a symbol of his socialist credentials.
Legislators at the ceremony in Congress chanted "Long live socialism."
Investors took fright this week at the leftist drive that further consolidates power in the hands of a former coup leader who already controls Congress, the courts and says he has total support in the army and the giant state oil company.
As the United States criticized Chavez's moves against private property, the stock market lost almost a fifth of its value on Tuesday, debt prices tumbled to a six-week low and the currency changed hands at nearly twice the official rate
Still, buoyed by strong oil revenues and high popularity, Chavez is expected to ride out any economic and political storm.
In his political career, the former army officer has survived jail, a coup and a recall referendum.
A leading anti-U.S. voice in the world and in the vanguard of a shift to the left in Latin America, Chavez now wants to scrap presidential term limits and lead the
OPEC nation for decades.

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http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070110/ts_nm/venezuela_dc_8

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Chavez promises a socialist Venezuela as he starts new 6-year term
Updated 1/10/2007 12:39 PM ET
By Howard Yanes, AP

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"Chavez also alluded to Jesus, saying: "I swear by Christ — the greatest socialist in history."

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez echoed Fidel Castro's cry of "socialism or death" as he was sworn in for a new six-year term on Wednesday, promising to accelerate Venezuela's transformation into a socialist state.
Chavez took the oath of office at the National Assembly after a sweeping re-election victory that has given him free reign to pursue more radical changes, including plans to nationalize power and telecommunications companies.
His right hand raised, Chavez declared: "Fatherland, socialism or death — I swear it," invoking the Cuban leader's famous call to arms.
Chavez also alluded to Jesus, saying: "I swear by Christ — the greatest socialist in history."
In a speech that followed, he said the central aim of his term that runs until 2013 will be "to build Venezuelan socialism."
"I don't have the slightest doubt that is the only path to the redemption of our peoples, the salvation of our fatherland," Chavez told lawmakers to applause. He said he believes that socialism — not capitalism — is the only way to guarantee well-being not only for Venezuela, but the world.

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2007-01-10-chavez-venezuela_x.htm?csp=34