Eye to Eye

Hugo Chavez condemned Israel in June 2010 and emotionally called on God to spare his life on April 5, 2012

Chavez condemned Israel in June 2010:
"I want to condemn from the bottom of my soul, from the bottom of my guts: Damn you State of Israel. Damn you terrorists and assassins."

During a broadcast on Venezuelan national television and radio, Chavez said, "I want to condemn from the bottom of my soul, from the bottom of my guts: Damn you State of Israel. Damn you terrorists and assassins."

"The Golan Heights belong to the Syrian people ... the genocidal state of Israel will be put in place,
and hopefully a democratic state will be born, with which to share ideas.

"The Israeli Government has become the murderer arm of the U.S. Empire,
a threat to people struggling for their freedoms.

"... We have a common enemy: the U.S. Empire, and the genocidal state of Israel ...
[We share the goal] to carry out a socialist revolution, putting ahead the interests of our people.

"Where are the values of humanity, where are the battles waged in the human cause,
[the values] of Muhammad and Christ, are [present] throughout Latin America and in all Arab countries."

Hugo Chavez weeps and calls on God to spare his life

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during a mass for his health in Barinas Photo: AFP/GETTY

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wept and asked God to spare his life during a
pre-Easter Mass on Thursday after returning from his latest session of cancer treatment in Cuba.

In a televised speech to the Catholic service in his home state of Barinas, Chavez cried and his voice broke as he eulogised Jesus, revolutionary fighter Ernesto "Che" Guevara and South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

"Never forget that we are the children of giants ... I could not avoid some tears,"
the former soldier said, his parents and other relatives looking on from the church rows.

"Give me your crown, Jesus. Give me your cross, your thorns so that I may bleed. But give me life, because I have more to do for this country and these people. Do not take me yet," Chavez added, standing below an image of Jesus with the Crucifix.