I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet.
Hugo ChavezThe United States is like Count Dracula who at six o'clock in the morning has not sucked [any necks].
Hugo ChavezI'm a man with many defects. I love. I sing. I dream. I was born in the poor countryside. I was raised in the countryside, planting corn and selling sweets made by my grandmother. My children, my two daughters are with me and I want a better world for my grandchildren, for your grandchildren.
Hugo ChavezIn the United States, the government is bailing out banks, intervening in the economy, yet in Latin America, the Right continues to talk about 'free markets.' It's totally outdated; they don't have arguments; they don't have any sense.
Hugo ChavezThe imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the U.S. president has no limits. I think Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W. Bush.
Hugo ChavezI shook Obama's hand and I said, 'I want to be your friend.' My hand is still outstretched. I am not Obama's enemy, but it's difficult not see imperialism in Washington. Those who don't see it don't want to see it, like the ostrich.
Hugo ChavezIsrael criticizes Hitler a lot, so do we, but they've done something very similar, even worse, than what the Nazis did.
Hugo ChavezThe grand destroyer of the world, and the greatest threat... is represented by U.S. imperialism.
Hugo ChavezThe Devil is right at home. The Devil, the Devil himself, is right in the house. And the Devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the Devil came here. Right here. And it smells of sulphur still today. Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the Devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world.
Hugo ChavezI became a soldier, not because I had a military vocation initially, but because it was the only way that that young, poor-class child from the provinces could go to the center of the country: through baseball, which was my dream.
Hugo ChavezPeoples of the Americas are rising once again, saying no to imperialism, saying no to fascism, saying no to intervention - and saying no to death.
Hugo ChavezNoam Chomsky has a book, which I read for the first time when I was in Spain, called 'Fear of Democracy'. There is your answer. Fear of democracy. In Honduras, they had a sham democracy. It was run by elites, what was called a liberal democracy, but in reality was a false democracy.
Hugo ChavezIt's a lie! I am not an anti-Semite. The World Jewish Congress supported me and said that I am not anti-Semitic.
Hugo ChavezVenezuela is a free country, and we will not be blackmailed by anyone. We will not accept being told what to do over Iran; we will not accept being anyone's colony.
Hugo ChavezFor a hundred years we have been one of the largest oil-producing countries in the world but with a 60 percent poverty rate and now we are canceling the historical debt.
Hugo ChavezI wish we could begin a new period of normal relations with the government of the United States.
Hugo ChavezI was a farm kid from the plains of South Venezuela, from a very poor family. I grew up in a palm tree house with an earthen floor.
Hugo ChavezThe left is back, and it's the only path we have to get out of the spot to which the right has sunken us. Socialism builds and capitalism destroys.
Hugo ChavezThe revolution will survive. It does not rely solely on oil for its survival. There is a national will, there is a national idea, a national project.
Hugo ChavezWe must reduce the emissions 100 percent. In Venezuela, the emissions are currently insignificant compared to the emissions of the developed countries.
Hugo ChavezWe shall remember Gaddafi our whole lives as a great fighter, a revolutionary and a martyr.
Hugo ChavezIf you get up at three in the morning to go to the bathroom, man, why you have to turn on that little light? Put the torch there on the nightstand.
Hugo ChavezMost governments in the United States in a hundred years have not respected the peoples of Latin America. They have sponsored coup d'etats, assassinations.
Hugo ChavezI love Jesus Christ. I am a Christian... I cry when I see injustice, children dying of hunger.
Hugo ChavezWe must reduce all the emissions that are destroying the planet. However, that requires a change in lifestyle, a change in the economic model: We must go from capitalism to socialism.
Hugo ChavezWe have to re-invent socialism. It can't be the kind of socialism that we saw in the Soviet Union, but it will emerge as we develop new systems that are built on cooperation, not competition.
Hugo ChavezFor us Catholics, John Paul II will be remembered as a traveling Pope ... and we should also remember he preached world peace. When the United States invaded Iraq, for example, John Paul II said it was an illegal and immoral act.
Hugo ChavezOil is a very valuable resource for life - electric heaters. We must have to transition ourselves to a post-oil era. And that's what we must discuss: searching and developing new sources of energy. And that requires scientific research. That requires investment. And the developed countries must be the ones to assume this responsibility first.
Hugo ChavezI was an altar boy. My mother wanted me to be a priest. I am very Christian and Catholic. ... I'm very faithful. I believe in God, in Jesus Christ.
Hugo ChavezTo paraphrase Karl Marx, the great Karl Marx, a specter is haunting the streets of Copenhagen...Capitalism is the specter, almost nobody wants to mention it...Socialism, the other specter Karl Marx spoke about, which walks here too, rather it is like a counter-specter. Socialism, this is the direction, this is the path to save the planet, I don't have the least doubt. Capitalism is the road to hell, to the destruction of the world.
Hugo ChavezCapitalism is the way of the devil and exploitation. If you really want to look at things through the eyes of Jesus Christ -- who I think was the first socialist -- only socialism can really create a genuine society.
Hugo ChavezI think the United States and the secretary of State should be concerned about the poverty in this country - people without health insurance. The United States should stop being the empire and be concerned about other countries. You've got to be more worried about your own people.
Hugo ChavezAn infernal machine that produces every minute an impressive amount of poor, 26 million poor in 10 years are 2.6 million per year of new poor, this is the road, well, the road to hell.
Hugo ChavezNo part of the human community can live entirely on its own planet, with its own laws of motion and cut off from the rest of humanity.
Hugo ChavezWhat would happen if we financed somebody in the U.S. to destabilize the government of George W. Bush? They would go to prison, certainly.
Hugo Chavez