Address to the United Nations General Assembly (September 20, 2006):

"…The 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. [crosses himself]. And it smells of sulfur still today.

"Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this platform, 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.

"I think we could call a psychiatrist to analyze yesterday's statement made by the president of the United States. As the spokesman of imperialism, he came to try to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world…

"The president of the United States, yesterday, said to us, right here, in this room, and I'm quoting, 'Anywhere you look, you hear extremists telling you can escape from poverty and recover your dignity through violence, terror and martyrdom.'


"Wherever he looks, he sees extremists. And you, my brother—he looks at your color, and he says, oh, there's an extremist…The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up. It's waking up all over. And people are standing up…

"But the government doesn't want peace. The government of the United States doesn't want peace. It wants to exploit its system of exploitation, of pillage, of hegemony through war.

"It wants peace. But what's happening in Iraq? What happened in Lebanon? In Palestine? What's happening? What's happened over the last 100 years in Latin America and in the world? And now threatening Venezuela—new threats against Venezuela, against Iran?

"He spoke to the people of Lebanon. Many of you, he said, have seen how your homes and communities were caught in the crossfire. How cynical can you get? What a capacity to lie shamefacedly. The bombs in Beirut with millimetric precision?

"This is crossfire? He's thinking of a western, when people would shoot from the hip and somebody would be caught in the crossfire.

"This is imperialist, fascist, assassin, genocidal, the empire and Israel firing on the people of Palestine and Lebanon. That is what happened…"

Visit to China (August 25, 2006): "Israel was committing a genocide in Lebanon and its leaders should be held responsible and should be judged by an international tribunal… The Israelis criticize Hitler but have done something worse."

Speech (August 8, 2006): "Probably we will sever diplomatic relations [with Israel]. I have no interest in maintaining diplomatic relations, nor offices, nor commerce, nor anything with a state such as Israel, that commits such madness against Palestinians and Lebanese… We feel indignation to see how the State of Israel continues crushing, bombarding, assassinating, dismembering so many innocent people using 'gringo' aircraft and using its high military power with the support of the U.S."

Visit to university in Tehran, Iran (July 30, 2006): "What Israel does today against Palestinians and Lebanese is terrorism and fascism."

Press conference with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad during visit to Iran (July 30, 2006): "[The Israeli aggression] is offensive and cowardly. Why don't they fight against a real army? ... They want war because they have the 'demon' inside of them, why don't they behave like soldiers. I am a soldier, confront us soldiers; because cowards bombard children and women's dwellings who do not have even a stone to defend themselves. How brave should the Israeli soldiers feel that way? I tell you from here, from Tehran, one and a thousand times, assassins, cowards. But simply you are condemned to your own end, from the bottom of the soul of the populace will surge the force that will end the empire and its cronies…"

Interview with Al Jazeera (July 28, 2006): "The aggression against Palestine and Lebanon is an aggression against us as well. It is an unjustified aggression. It is a fascist aggression, much like Hitler… Israel is right in criticizing Hitler and the hostility against Jews, we do to, but they are doing the same thing that Hitler did to the Jews. They are killing innocent children, entire families. They destroyed the legitimate government of Palestine, they destroyed the multi-year effort of the road towards peace, looking for a Palestinian state, and now they are targeting Lebanon and have destroyed half of Lebanon… Behind the hostilities perpetrated by Israel is the hand of the U.S. The worst menace that has the future of humanity is the U.S. empire and one of its instruments of aggression is in the State of Israel. This plan was prepared in detail a long time ago and it was planed in the Pentagon, only that Israel is the executor."

Visit to Qatar (July 27, 2006): "Who supported and armed Israel?... The mask is coming off the U.S. This fascism is something similar to what Hitler did: bombard cities, kill innocent children, women and men, and destroy the infrastructure of people. They are demolishing Lebanon. How can you justify that due to the kidnapping of two soldiers, which I condemn, they attack a population, bombarding by using the great U.S. machinery… This was a planned action of war. Behind are the hawkish brains of the Pentagon. Unfortunately, the executor of this fascist aggression is the Israeli military. We urge, in the name of the Venezuelan people, to stop the aggression and for Israel to withdraw from the sovereign territory of Palestine. We ask God to end the violence".

Inauguration ceremony for Venezuelan Minister of Defense in Caracas (July 16, 2006): "There it is again, the flame of the Middle Eastern war and who is responsible? It isn't the people of Palestine or Israel, it is the U.S. empire who pushes the Israeli elite to use their aggression against innocent people… They [Israel] do have nuclear arms, but nobody says anything because 'the empire' is behind threatening Syria and Iran. When will the madness go away? The desire of dominance of 'the empire' could lead the world towards a true Holocaust. God forbid"

Statement (June 9, 2006): "The State of Israel needs to respect the people of Palestine who have been struggling to bring peace and independence for years… With all the military power and with the support of the U.S. empire, the State of Israel has acted against the mandates of the U.N. and against world peace and bombarded again and invaded Palestine territory."

Speech about wealth and poverty at Venezuelan rehabilitation center (December 24, 2005): "...The world is for all of us, then, but it so happens that a minority, the descendents of the same ones that crucified Christ, the descendents of the same ones that kicked Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way over there in Santa Marta, in Colombia. A minority has taken possession all of the wealth of the world, a minority has taken ownership of all of the gold of the planet, of the silver, of the minerals, the waters, the good lands, oil, of the wealth then and have concentrated the wealth in a few hands: less than 10 percent of the population of the world owns more than half of the wealth of the world and...more than the population of the planet is poor and each day there are more poor people in the whole world..."