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Hugo Chavez Calls Bush 'Mr. Danger'
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a frequent critic of the Bush administration, said Wednesday he is looking forward to sitting down with the American leader at a summit in Argentina next month. Both leaders plan to attend the Summit of the Americas, and Chavez said he understood they would be seated at the same table. "That summit is going to be really good if that gentlemen goes, if Mr. Danger goes," Chavez said in a speech. Chavez didn't explain what he meant by "Mr. Danger," but he has frequently accused Bush of trying to oust him, including through a short-lived 2002 coup. U.S. officials strongly deny it. Relations between Caracas and Washington have been tense, with U.S. officials expressing concern over the health of democracy in Venezuela and Chavez criticizing "imperialist" U.S. actions in places from Latin America to Iraq.
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Chavez, an admirer of Fidel Castro, criticized the U.S. trade embargo against Cuba in the speech and thanked the Cuban president for a program that has sent thousands of Cuban doctors to treat Venezuela's poor. "Cuba and Venezuela are one single fist," Chavez said. "Latin America will be one single fist." Chavez says he is leading Venezuela toward socialism, though he has said he doesn't plan to copy the Cuban system.
He has stepped up oil sales to Cuba under preferential terms, but the United States is the top buyer of Venezuela's oil. Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter. Chavez, a former paratrooper, is a fervent nationalist who was first elected in 1998 and is up for re-election next year.
© 2005 The Associated Press
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