'I'm Ugly but No Communist' - Venezuela's Chavez

Sun June 8, 2003 04:01 PM ET CARACAS, Venezuela (<a href=reuters.com>Reuters) - Venezuela's leftist President Hugo Chavez described himself on Sunday as "ugly" and "sometimes uncouth" but said he was not a communist and did not believe communism could work in his oil-rich country.

Defending his turbulent rule in the world's No. 5 oil exporter, the populist leader dismissed criticism of his appearance, behavior and politics.

"I'm ugly ... black mixed with Indian, that's me," he said, referring jokingly but proudly to his mixed-race ancestry which he shares with most of Venezuela's population.

"I'm a little uncouth sometimes. What can I do? I'm not going to change," Chavez added, speaking during his weekly "Hello President" television and radio show.

Chavez rose from obscurity to become a national figure in 1992 when he tried to seize power in a botched coup. Launching a political career after two years in jail, he won a landslide election in late 1998, promising a self-styled "revolution" to help his country's poor majority.

But his opponents, who have waged a determined campaign of protests and strikes against him, accuse Chavez of ruling like a dictator and of trying to install Cuba-style communism.

"I am not a communist ... if I was, I would say so," Chavez said. He added this distinguished him from Cuban President Fidel Castro, with whom he has forged a close alliance that has irked the United States, the main buyer of Venezuela's oil.

"Fidel Castro, my friend and brother, is a communist, but Venezuela's project is not communist," Chavez said. "At this moment in Venezuela, the program cannot be a communist one."