Hugo Chavez sends solidarity to Gaddafi, Syria

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday he was praying for Libya's deposed leader Muammar Gaddafi and also sent a message of solidarity to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad against "Yankee" aggression. 

Chavez -who has inherited Fidel Castro's mantle as Washington's main irritant in Latin America -views the wave of uprisings in the Arab world as Western-led destabilization and has been a strong ally of Gaddafi.  "

The Libyans are resisting the invasion and aggression. I ask God to protect the life of our brother Muammar Gaddafi. They're hunting him down to kill him," he said.

 "No one knows where Gaddafi is, I think he went off to the desert ... to lead the resistance. What else can he do?"  With a presidential vote looming for Venezuela in 2012, Chavez's opponents have leapt on his support for Arab strongmen -and friendship with Gaddafi -as a sign of autocratic tendencies. But he has been undeterred and also sent support to the government of Syria, which is fighting street protests. 

 "I spoke yesterday with the president of Syria, our brother President Bashar al-Assad," Chavez said in a televised ceremony to present low-cost household appliances for Venezuelans. 

 "From here, we send our solidarity to the Syrian people, to President Bashar. They are resisting imperial aggression, the attacks of the Yankee empire and its European allies."

-Reuters