Harry Belafonte Blasts Bush in Venezuela

The outspoken and courageous singer and activist Harry Belafonte recently lead a delegation to Venezuela in support of Hugo Chavez that included Princeton University Professor, Cornel West and Actor, Danny Glover. The delegation meet with President Chavez for 6 hours on Saturday, January 7th and then appeared on the President’s national radio and television broadcast on Sunday.

During the visit Belafonte expressed solidarity with the people of Venezuela and told a crowd that “millions of American” also support Chavez and his “socialist revolution”. Belafonte has been an outspoken critic of the Bush Administration and in particular Collin Powell and Condi Rice. Belafonte admonished the Bush Administration for trying to overthrow the Chavez administration and called President Bush "the greatest terrorist in the world". Belafonte went on to critisize mainstream corporate media for it's unfair and incidious portrayal of Chavez.

Chavez expressed solidarity for the struggles of people of African descent in the United States and Venezuela and reiterated his own administration's commitment to ending discrimination at home.

According to Seattlepi.com Chavez accuses Bush of trying to overthrow him, pointing to intelligence documents released by the U.S. indicating that the CIA knew beforehand that dissident officers planned a short-lived 2002 coup. The U.S. denies involvement, but Chavez says Venezuela must be on guard.

Links to previous stories on Hugo Chavez & Venezuela:
Hugo Chavez: His Battle With Imperialism