How, precisely, did Hugo Chavez react to Al Qaeda's 9/11 terrorist attacks?

Here are excerpts from an article in the Democracy & Development section of Venezuela Today, originally published in PETROLEUMWORLD September 30 2001. The article was written by Dr. Pedro Pablo Aguilar, former president of Venezuela's Congress, who gives a glimpse into the mind of the man who admires Osama Bin Laden, calls Saddam "my brother", and considers the United States his enemy.

Hugo Chávez reacted late and wrong before the 09-11 tragedy. He was last among Latin American rulers to pronounce himself. He did not do it on the 11th as his colleagues did.

Venezuela as a whole was living the horror of events in the U.S.A. As in the rest of the continent, people were nailed to the TV sets watching with terrified eyes what was unfolding. Many in Venezuela have relatives who study or work in New York and Washington. It was strange that the President would have not spoken on the day of the tragedy or the following day.

This message appeared not to answer the expectations at the U. S. Embassy. Then-ambassador Donna Hrinak had a long meeting with Venezuela's Foreign Minister. Coming out of this meeting reporters asked her if the U. S. Government, has considered, within the present context, Venezuela's relations with Arab countries. "We're still examining the situation. Countries have to decide which side they take, whether they're with the terrorists or whether they side with freedom and peace. Each country must decide now."

For President Chávez, the decision was awfully difficult. He is of the conviction that he is one of the main political players of the world. That he's recognized as a leader called upon to promote the universal struggle against globalization and neoliberalism. He went to Baghdad to talk to Saddan Hussein and to condemn the embargo against Irak. He went to Libya to meet with Gaddafi and to offer his fraternal solidarity. He brought Mohammed Khatami to Caracas and later visited him in Teheran, in the process of reaching concrete and strong agreements with Iran. The most important was the making of the axis of a powerful alliance to turn oil into a strategic element against globalization.

As President he has journeyed the entire planet blaming globalization and neoliberalism as the root of the pain of peoples. In all scenarios he has said that savage capitalism breeds on the power of an empire who practices it and imposes it on others. A new balance in world power is indispensable to humanize globalization and slow down neoliberalism. He believes to have conquered universal admiration in the frontal, daily battle against unipolarity.

In the 48 hours following the terrorist attack he vanishes from sight. Ghadaffi has pointed to him as the head of a new movement to conquer the dignity of imperialism's oppressed peoples. How not to recall that wondrous day in Malaysia, when rulers of 77 countries asked him to lead Southern nations in their renewed efforts towards justice and equity? Or the mail exchange with famous fellow Venezuelan Carlos Ilich Ramírez -"El Chacal"- for whose extradiction so much has been done by the Ambassador to Paris?

Venezuela is now a major actor in world politics because it assumed the vanguard role in the battle against unipolarity. With a happy smile, he [Chavez] added: "I will also travel, God willing, but it shall be in October to planned meetings with Saddam Hussein and Ghadaffi."

By Johan Freitas, in Caracas

In a pattern that closely follows his reaction to 9/11, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez has gone into hiding rather than face public questioning over his Al Qaeda connections.

His usual Sunday morning TV-show, Alo Presidente ("Hello President"), did not air this week. Viewers who expected an explanation of his $1M Al Qaeda support waited impatiently all morning and most of the afternoon, until finally, at 5 PM local time, it was clear that the president was nowhere to be found. The regularly scheduled program, normally a stable feature of Venezuelan state-owned TV's Sunday line-up, had to be unexpectedly cancelled. It normally features live callers asking questions on the air.

" - The Al Qaeda scandal is today's top news in the nations' newspapers. Voters would have demanded answers. Chavez acts like a dictator, but he is also a coward. And he is afraid of being held democratically accountable for his acts," said opposition leader Enrique Medina Gomez, a general who was part of the Chavez high command but joined the country's resistance movement in protest over Chavez's totalitarian rule and close ties to terrorism.

Chavez, who privately expressed satisfaction over the attacks at the time, had government-employees burn the American flag in a 9/11-celebration in the main square of Caracas, Plaza Bolivar.

Today, with his "Bolivarian Revolution" ending in Venezuela's largest-ever bout of public corruption, his support from both the Venezuelan people and it's armed forces has dwindled and the country is gripped in the fifth week of a general strike. Desperately clinging on to power by whatever means necessary, Chavez is refusing to call free and democratic elections in Venezuela.