Over the years, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has befriended a number of questionable figures in South America and also in the Middle East where he has formed bonds through both OPEC and ideological channels. As Chavez's hatred of the United States and Israel has grown, he has become close allies with a number of the West's most dangerous adversaries. These relationships grew only stronger during the Israel-Hezbollah war, when Chavez was outspoken in his criticism of Israel and the United States and in his support for Hezbollah.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad – President of Iran

Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad explicitly threatens to wipe Israel from the map, denies the Holocaust and defies the democratic world by supporting terrorism and extremism and pursuing nuclear weapons.

Chavez has visited Iran on several occasions, has hosted President Ahmadinejad in Venezuela, and has made extensive bilateral agreements with the current Iranian government. On July 30, 2006, while visiting Iran, Chavez and Ahmadinejad took part in a joint press conference at which Ahmadinejad stated, "Just like my dear brother Chavez expressed, [Israel's incursion] is a real shameful crime, and a handful of Zionists see an open path to crime…. We believe the real criminals are those who have created this illegal regime. The true responsibility of these crimes lies in the U.S. and England who are supporting the illegal regime [of Israel]…We hope that God's hand will come out of the hands of the people which can take vengeance of the unjustified bloodshed…"

Bashar Assad – President of Syria

On August 30, 2006 Chavez visited President Bashar Assad in Damascus. At their press conference Chavez said "What is Israel? We all know how Israel was born. It is an annex of the North American empire in the Middle East. Israel is the cause of the conflict in the region. This [territory] 6,000 years ago was of the Canaanites and the Philistines, these lands belong to the Palestinians." Chavez also denounced the "Nazi Crimes" in Lebanon and demanded that Israel withdraw from the Golan Heights. He said, "It is a theft perpetrated against the entire world… Nothing equates to the Nazi crimes that Israel has committed against Lebanon and Palestine."

On August 5, 2006, representatives from the Venezuelan National Assembly visited Syria to present an accord of solidarity with Lebanon that included the following clauses:

• Condemns energetically the savage and terrorist aggression of the State of Israel against Lebanon and expresses its solidarity for the people and the nation of Lebanon.
• Supports President Hugo Chavez in addressing Venezuelan foreign policy.
• Demands [Israel] to comply with United Nations resolutions to withdraw immediately from Lebanon and other Arab occupied territories.
• Request from the United Nations to accelerate the process of humanitarian aid to the victims of the conflict in Lebanon and Palestine.

Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah – Hezbollah Secretary General

Chavez became an idol of Hezbollah supporters during the recent conflict because of his outspoken criticism of Israel and support for Hezbollah's "resistance." He appeared side-by-side with Nasrallah in posters that read, "Israel needs to be judged for its crimes" and "Thank you Chavez." Nasrallah himself is quoted as saying, "Coalition from Gaza to Beirut, stopping by Damascus, Tehran, and for the brother Chavez." Venezuelan newspapers reported that Chavez paid $1 million to finance posters depicting himself alongside Nasrallah in a Hezbollah "victory" rally in Beirut.

Illich Ramirez Sanchez (a.k.a. Carlos The Jackal) – Convicted guerrilla terrorist

President Chavez publicly declared his support for the Venezuelan-born Illich Ramirez Sanchez, known as "Carlos The Jackal," who is currently serving a life sentence in France for a series of hijackings, kidnapping, and bombings in Europe.  Ramirez, who acted on behalf of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, is said to have masterminded the assassinations of Israeli athletes at the 1972 Munich Olympics. Chavez attempted to extradite Sanchez to be prosecuted in Venezuela, to no avail. On June 3, 2006, during an OPEC meeting, Chavez referred to Sanchez as a "good friend."

Norberto Ceresole – Deceased Argentine sociologist and political scientist

Norberto Rafael Ceresole, who died in 2003, was an Argentine sociologist and political scientist, who identified with Peronism and left-wing militias. He was labeled throughout his life as neo-fascist and anti-Semitic because of his Holocaust denial and hatred of Zionism and Israel.

Cresole was one of Chaez's mentors. He came to Venezuela in 1994 at the same time Chavez was being pardoned by President Caldera for his 1992 coup attempt. Cresole was exiled from Venezuela in 1995 by Caldera for his alleged ties with Islamic terrorists, but he returned in 1998 after Chavez's victory and wrote a book entitled, "Caudillo, Ejercito, Pueblo" (Leader, Army, People) about the Chavez revolution. The introductory chapter is titled, "The Jewish question and the State of Israel" and it blames Israel and the world Jewish community for his exile.

Ceresole claimed that Jews use the "myth" of the Holocaust to control the world, although he contended he wasn't an anti-Semite. He repeatedly stated that he has nothing against Jews, but that rather he was against the State of Israel for using the Holocaust for political gain.

Excerpts from "Caudillo, Ejercito, Pueblo" (Leader, Army, People) by Norberto Ceresole:

"I am not anti-Semitic nor a neo-Nazi… I am a critic of the State of Israel and of the international Jewish organizations, to which I have devoted my last few books. I consider myself part of a new revisionism whose objective is to demonstrate:

1. That an important part of the canonical tale of deportation and death of the Jews under the Nazis has been arranged in the form of a myth.

2. That such a myth is utilized to preserve the existence of a colonial enterprise endowed by a religious ideology (monotheistic and mythic-messianic): the disownership by Israel of the Arab Palestine.

3. That this myth is also utilized to financially blackmail the German state, other European states and Jewish communities in the U.S. and other countries.

4. That the existence of this political enterprise (Israel a power shaped under the monopoly of monotheism and implemented by an army, various police forces, jails, tortures and assassinations) looks to consolidate itself via a series of ideological manipulations in the bosom of the hegemonic power of the U.S., which procures by any means to be accepted about the owner of the world using generalized terror and also via dissuasive and persuasive practices."