- CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters)
- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a vocal critic of the U.S. government,
on Wednesday called U.S. President George W. Bush a "cowboy"
who had failed to manage the Hurricane Katrina disaster and evacuate victims.
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- "That government had no evacuation plan, it is incredible,
the first power in the world that is so involved in Iraq ... and left its
own population adrift," Chavez said in a cabinet meeting broadcast
live on television.
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- His remarks came as U.S. authorities evacuated thousands
of people from New Orleans and after Bush said it would take years to recover
from flooding caused by Hurricane Katrina.
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- The death toll on Wednesday reached at least 200 in what
Bush called the nation's worst natural disaster.
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- "That man, the king of vacations ... the king of
vacations in his ranch said nothing but, you have to flee, and didn't say
how ... that cowboy, the cowboy mentality," said Chavez, chuckling
in a reference to Bush without naming him directly.
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- Chavez, an outspoken populist who calls Cuba's Fidel
Castro an ally, often lambastes what he calls Washington's failed imperialist
policies. He says the Bush administration is trying to assassinate him
and calls the U.S. president "Mr. Danger."
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- The two governments frequently clash though the United
States is the top oil client of Venezuela, the world's No. 5 crude exporter.
Washington portrays Chavez as a menace who uses his nation's oil wealth
to fund anti-democratic groups.
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- The Venezuelan president, applauded by supporters for
his self-proclaimed socialist revolution to fight poverty, has offered
to send cheap fuel, humanitarian aid and relief workers to the disaster
area.
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- Venezuelan state oil firm PDVSA has offered $1 million
(555,000 pounds) from its U.S.-based refinery unit Citgo for relief efforts.
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