Chavez: Columbus Day a celebration of genocide...

["David Quarter" <davidquarter@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

No Cheers for Columbus, Says Venezuela's Chavez



CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez urged Latin Americans on Saturday not to celebrate
Columbus Day, saying the 1492 discovery of the Americas
triggered a 150-year "genocide" of native Indians by foreign
conquerors who behaved "worse than Hitler."


"Christopher Columbus was the spearhead of the biggest invasion
and genocide ever seen in the history of humanity," the populist
president told a meeting in Caracas of representatives of Indian
peoples from across the continent.


Columbus Day on Oct. 12 is celebrated as a holiday in the United
States and several Latin American nations, but Chavez said it
should be remembered as the "Day of Indian Resistance."


"We Venezuelans, we Latin Americans, have no reason to honor
Columbus," he added.


The Venezuelan leader said Spanish, Portuguese and other foreign
conquerors had massacred South America's Indian inhabitants at
an average rate of roughly "one every 10 minutes." He described
Spanish conquistadors like Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro,
as "worse than Hitler."


He said even the continent's geographical names, like America and
Venezuela, were imposed by foreigners.


Chavez's opponents, who are seeking a referendum to try to vote
him out of office, say his self-styled "revolution" in the world's No. 5
oil exporter is aimed at installing an anti-U.S. communist system
like the one in Cuba. Chavez says his brand of left-wing
nationalism will make Venezuela more independent.


The Venezuelan leader hailed as heroes Indian chiefs who had
fought against the invaders, such as Guaicaipuro who resisted the
Spanish founders of Caracas, and American Indian chief Sitting
Bull, who defeated U.S. Gen. George Armstrong Custer at the
Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.


"Long live Sitting Bull!" Chavez declared, drawing applause from his
audience, many of whom wore traditional native clothes and head-
dresses.






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