Chavez: "They call us terrorists, they say we're part of the axis of evil..."
Wire Services: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will focus on energy and oil agreements during a visit Friday to Madrid, the last stop of a nine-country tour.
Chavez will hold brief talks with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and King Juan Carlos during his half-day stopover. "We come here to continue working with the Spanish government, to revise agreements, energy, oil and cultural projects," Chavez said in comments broadcast by Venezuelan state television.
Venezuela agreed to provide Spain with 1.37 million barrels of oil a year and Spain will build a $2 billion electricity plant in eastern Venezuela under accords signed in July. He will also discuss preparations for an upcoming U.N. General Assembly meeting and November's Iberoamerican summit in Portugal. It was not immediately known if during the meetings Spain might raise the issue of Chavez recognizing the independence of two Russia-backed Georgian separatist regions, South Ossetia and Abkhazia, on Thursday -- a move criticized by the US.
Chavez arrived in Madrid late Thursday from Moscow. He has also visited Italy, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Libya, Algeria, Syria and Iran in recent days. Chavez last visited Spain in July 2008. That trip was mainly aimed at sealing a rift from the previous year when the normally reserved Spanish monarch told Chavez to "shut up" during an Iberoamerican summit because the Venezuelan leader repeatedly criticized former Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
Speaking at his Madrid hotel, Chavez said Spain and Venezuela were "souls that need each other, but on equal conditions. We're equals, neither is inferior." On other issues, Chavez said the global economic crisis was a sign that the world was changing. "The global capitalism crisis is a great opportunity," he said. "This is the moment, it's not a tale, it's not madness, the world is changing."
He warned Spaniards and Europeans that there was a media campaign against him and similar leaders. "They call those of us who are fighting for true democracy tyrants and they call many tyrants democrats," he said. "They call us terrorists, they say we're part of the axis of evil. This is part of the battle of ideas."
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