Hugo Chávez Speaks

Editor's Note: Democracy Now! met with Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez for his first interview in the U.S. Amy Goodman interviewed him in New York City with co-host Juan Gonzalez and Margaret Prescod of Pacifica Radio station KPFK. This is an edited version of the transcript.

Scores of world leaders have come to the United States for the United Nations summit. Among them, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez. In a speech before the world body, Chávez accused the U.S. of trying to hijack the U.N. Summit, and described the United States as a terrorist nation because it's harboring televangelist Pat Robertson who recently called for Chávez's assassination.

President Chávez also accused the United States of being behind the reported coup against him in 2002. Chávez condemned the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan, and threatened to cut off oil sales to the United States.

Amy Goodman: Welcome, Mr. President, to the United States. You have come to a country whose government you have accused of trying to assassinate you. What evidence do you have of this, and of your other charge that it was involved with the attempted coup against you?

President Chávez: Thank you for the invitation to come to this show, Juan, Amy and Margaret -- and my greetings to all the people, viewers and isteners to these well-known programs. Let's talk about life, rather than death, because we are fighting for life. However there are always threats -- those who are devoted to the struggle for life, and use the truth as a flag and principles as a lifeline.

Tens of thousands of Chávez supporters, opposed to an attempted recall in 2004, march in Caracas.

There is no doubt whatsoever that the U.S. government, led by Mr. Bush, planned and participated in a coup d'etat in Venezuela in April 2002. There are many proofs and evidence of this. There is a U.S. lady who wrote a book called the Chávez's Code, Mrs. Eva Golinger, and she is very close and there are declassified documents that she has found thanks to an effort to investigate the situation.

I have many evidences that my assassination was ordered on April the 12th, and I was ready to die. However, thank God and thanks to the Venezuelan people and thanks to the Venezuelan soldiers, this order was not accomplished. This order was given by Washington. And there are many evidences and witnesses, however I would like to talk about life and greet the U.S. people with a lot of affection, with a lot of love and with a lot of pain due to the tragedy in New Orleans and the gulf states.

We've been accompanying these states from the very beginning, and we've been watching TV and receiving reports by our ambassadors and the CITGO people from the very beginning, cooperating very humbly trying to save lives and assist the homeless. We have offered assistance, up to five million dollars, a very modest sum, but I guess it would be useful. We have offered medicine, water, and electric power plants, the same way Cuba offered doctors. So far we have not been authorized to reach the area. However, we hope the best for the poor, the poorest of these countries.

Amy Goodman: And televangelist Pat Robertson, his call for your assassination. What do you demand now, what is your response to that?

President Chávez: Well as a matter of fact, Robertson is not acting alone. He's just conveying, in a perhaps desperate manner, the thinking of those people closer to Mr. Bush. This is the voice of the most radical -- of the extreme right wing in the U.S., I am totally convinced that is the situation with Mr. Robertson. And as you can see, so far there has been no reaction by the U.S. government in this regard. There's nothing being said about these terrorist remarks that is in full breach of international law and breaches the laws of the United States.