7/29/2019 Democracy Now! - Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez on Climate Change December 21, 2009

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez on Climate Change:

"We Must Go from Capitalism to Socialism"

Monday, December 21, 2009

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We speak with Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez about climate change, the

Copenhagen summit and President Obama. Chvez calls the COP15 summit

undemocratic and accuses world leaders of only seeking a face-saving agreement.

"We must reduce all the emissions that are destroying the planet," Chvez says. "That

requires a change in the economic model: We must go from capitalism to socialism."

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Amy Goodman: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The War and PeaceReport. Im Amy Goodman. Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez spared no criticism

of the climate conference in Copenhagen. At a joint news conference he held with the

Bolivian president, Evo Morales, on Friday afternoonthis was before President

Obama announced the accordChvez called the proceedings undemocratic and

accused world leaders of only seeking a face-saving agreement. He described

President Obama as having won the "Nobel War Prize" and said the world still

smelled of sulfur, referring to his comments about President Bush at the United

Nations last year.

Well, shortly after the news conference, I caught up with President Chvez for a few

minutes.

Amy Goodman: You sell more oil to the United States than any country but Canada.Your economy depends on oil, yet you are here at a climate change summit. Whats

your proposal?

President Hugo Chavez: [translated] The problem is not the oil, but what they dowith the oil. The United States is the biggest spender of oil and of all the planet

resources. Oil is a very valuable resource for lifeelectric heaters. We must have to

transition ourselves to a post-oil era. And thats what we must discuss: searching and

developing new sources of energy. And that requires scientific research. That requires

investment. And the developed countries must be the ones to assume this

responsibility first.

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Amy Goodman: What level of emissions are you willing to support reductions ofemissions?

President Hugo Chavez: [translated] One hundred percent. One hundred percent. We

must reduce the emissions 100 percent. In Venezuela, the emissions are currently

insignificant compared to the emissions of the developed countries. We are inagreement. We must reduce all the emissions that are destroying the planet. However,

that requires a change in lifestyle, a change in the economic model: We must go from

capitalism to socialism. Thats the real solution.

Amy Goodman: How do you throw away capitalism?

President Hugo Chavez: [translated] The way they did it in Cuba. Thats the way.The same way we are doing in Venezuela: giving the power to the people and taking

it away from the economic elites. You can only do that through a revolution.

Amy Goodman: President Obamawhat is your reaction to his speech today?

President Hugo Chavez: [translated] Obama is a big frustration. In my opinion,Obama can become one of the biggest frustrations in the history for many people, not

for me, but for the people of the United States that voted for him and saw him as a

symbol of hope for change. But he has given continually to the most aggressive Bush

policies, the imperialist policies.

Amy Goodman: What example of that?

President Hugo Chavez: [translated] The war. I told Obama, when he took theinitiative to come visit us in the Summit of the Americaswe talked for a few

minutes. I told him, "Obama, lets work for peace in Colombia. Thats what I am

proposing. Lets get a team together to analyze the problem." But absolutely nothing.

He is now installing seven military bases in Colombia. Thats just one example.

And in Iraq and Afghanistan, policies of war. Guantnamo, it is a great frustration.

And I feel sorry, not for me. You are from the United States. I feel sorry for you,

because you deserve a government that takes care of the problems of the people of the

United States and stops thinking about dominating the rest of the world and just

governs over the United States, eradicates the problems of the United States, the

poverty, the inequality, which gets bigger every day, the unemployment, families onthe street, homeless, without Social Security, diseases. I wish for you to get a

government that truly takes care of you first and then works towards peace for the rest

of the world.

Amy Goodman: The U.S. government calls you a dictator. What is your response?

President Hugo Chavez: [translated] I laugh. I laugh. It is the empire calling me a

dictator. Im happy. And I remember Don Quixote, Quixote who was with Sancho,

you know, and the dogs start to bark, and Sancho says, "They are going to bite us."

And Quixote wisely answers, "Take it easy, Sancho, because if the dogs are barking,

it is because we are galloping." I will be very sad and worried if the imperialist

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government was calling me a great democratic man. No, it is them, the empire, who

attack those who are truly contributing to the real democracy.

Amy Goodman: Venezuelan President Hugo Chvez, speaking to us in Copenhagen

on Friday.

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