Venezuela's Chavez Calls Former Spanish Prime Minister Azner a 'fascist'

[NNN0LHI]

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGB5IRXBY8E.html

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist," saying Aznar once told him to to forget about the poor nations of the world. snip

Chavez, who met Thursday with Spanish Labor and Social Affairs Minister Jesus Caldera, said he once asked Aznar what he thought of the situation of poor African countries and Haiti.

"He told me, 'Forget about them, those nations missed the train of history.' They are condemned to disappear." recalled Chavez, saying such ideas remind one of Adolf Hitler. "That is the thinking of this gentleman who continues attacking us over there."

"He is a true fascist," said Chavez, who also called Aznar an "imbecile."

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[arcos]

1. And he's right...

Aznar was a supporter of Franco in his youth.

[Vladimir]

2. Chavez, as usual, speaks the truth n/t

[Frederik]

3. A true fascist and an imbecile

Isn't it refreshing when people bluntly speak the truth!

[alcibiades_mystery]

4. Ha! Aznar a fascist imbecile

That sounds about right.

No wonder he and Bush got along so well...Shitbirds of a feather, y'know?

[pnorman]

5. I needed explicit verification of that,

and I Googled it here: http://www.mediaisland.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=190

The source appears to be 'pro-socialist', which doesn't bother me one damn bit. The important thing is that the names, dates, and events are laid out clearly and unambiguously. That make it MUCH easier to confirm or deny it.

pnorman
On edit: Here is the relevant paragraph:
"The conservative party, PP, which became the governing party in Spain in 1996, was founded by Fraga Iribarne, who was Minister of Information and of the Interior (in charge of the hated political police) during the Franco regime. He had signed the death sentence of Grimau, a leader of the anti-fascist underground who belonged to the clandestine Communist Party, the major force in the anti-fascist resistance. He is proud of his fascist past, having recently written a prologue to a book that denies the existence of the Holocaust. He has repeatedly said that Franco was the greatest European and Spanish leader of the 20th century. His main disciple is. Aznar, who had been a member of the fascist youth and who had campaigned against the establishment of the new democratic constitution. Aznar also criticized the democratically elected municipal government of Guernica (the town destroyed by the Nazi air forces allied with Franco's Armed Forces) for changing the name of its main square from Caudillo's Square to Liberty Square (during the fascist regime all main squares of any town, city, or village had to be named after General Franco, referred to in Spain in the official rhetoric as Caudillo). This. Aznar is the same Aznar that the U.S. Congress is ready to grant a Congressional Medal of Honor to, in the process offending the thousands of American soldiers who died in World War II fighting Nazism and fascism."

[Benhurst]

6. How hurtful!

How true.

[Capt_Nemo]

7. And he is absolutely right!

[David__77]

8. Indeed! A true Falangist!

Aznar is a Franco groupie hiding his fasces in the closet for the time being. His own party was founded by a Franquist former minister. Thankfully Spain once more said "no pasaran!" and booted the right out. I only wish the fascist sympathies of the right in the US were so apparent.

[not systems]

9. I wonder if this "train of history" rhetoric is the type of...

thing Bush, Blair and Aznar use together when they meet?

Is this the attitude of all the neo-liberal leaders?

[geek tragedy]

10. He's half-right. Aznar was voted out of office, which means he's no

fascist.

However, he is a certified imbecile.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

11. That makes no sense.

Fascists (meaning people with fascist tendencies, leanings, personjalities, etc or that hope to turn a system into fascism) can be voted out of office. It happens all the time. He did not say the system was fascist.

[geek tragedy]

12. Fascists don't surrender power when voted out of office.

He's scum and a morally deficient shitbag, but not a fascist.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

13. That has nothing to do with being a fascist.

If he doesn't have sole control then he has to go. He can still be a fascist. He said fascist not dictator. I can be a fascist member of the fascist party, prefer fascism and behave like a fascist. That doesn't mean I control shit.

[AP]

14. I think it's more of a coincidence (McKinley, Nixon) rather than a rule.

Aznar is definitely a fascist. And so was the government that preceded Chavez's and so was the Pinochet government, which was followed by an elected government.

[Minstrel Boy]

15. you're wrong

That Hitler rescued Mussolini from an Italian prison and propped him up in Northern Italy doesn't change the fact he was removed from office in 1943 by Victor Emmanuel after losing the confidence of the Grand Council.

Many other examples, your sweeping pronouncement notwithstanding.

[K-W]

16. an unsuccessful facist is still a facist

your argument is absurd, just because he failed to retain power doesnt go back in time and change his facist ideas

[arcos]

17. Aznar WAS NOT voted out of office...

He decided NOT to run for a third term. The Partido Popular's candidate against Zapatero in last year's election was Mariano Rajoy. He still is the PP's chief and I believe he'll be a candidate again next time around.

[arcos]

18. kick nt