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Venezuela's Chavez hosts World Social Forum

Posted on: Tuesday, 24 January 2006, 11:49 CST

By Patrick Markey

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Tens of thousands of international activists gathered in Caracas on Tuesday for the World Social Forum to protest U.S. imperialism and debate topics from fair trade to indigenous rights.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a self-styled socialist revolutionary, has become a regional standard-bearer for left-wing, anti-U.S. movements since allying himself with Cuba to become one of the U.S. government's most vocal opponents.

The sixth world forum, an event that began in Port Alegre in Brazil, has registered more than 67,000 participants and starts with a march against imperialism and war that will likely focus on U.S. President George W. Bush and the war in Iraq.

"This is a process that can bring change for everyone," said Colombian Lucy Martinez, who belongs to a solidarity group with Cuba. "It's great that it is here in Venezuela because Chavez, like Fidel Castro, is an example for everyone."

Ecuadorean Indians in traditional shawls sat among piles of luggage while Brazilian students checked out street stalls offering Che Guevara T-shirts and bracelets, watches and posters printed with Chavez's image.

Lines of participants waiting to register snaked inside the Teresa Carreno Theater complex and nearby officials set up a campsite in a public park.

Many traveled by road from neighboring Brazil and Colombia. At least four Brazilian students were killed and 11 injured when their bus crashed in Peru en route to Caracas.

The forum began as an alternative to the gathering of world leaders in Davos, Switzerland, but it is now a broad movement where activists campaign for everything from fair trade and gay rights to debt forgiveness and anti-globalization.

Two parallel events have been organized in Mali and Pakistan.

The forum took place as Bolivia's Evo Morales became the latest left-wing president to assume power in South America on a wave of regional rejection of U.S.-backed free-market economic policies.

The event bills itself as independent. But much attention will likely focus on Chavez, a former soldier who has branded Bush "Mr. Danger" and who says he is bringing socialism to the world's No. 5 oil exporter to better the lives of the poor.

"With Chavez taking some incentives for the poor we wanted to know more," said Benjamin Inuca, president of an Ecuadorean indigenous association taking part in the forum.

Chavez, who often claims inspiration from South American liberation hero Simon Bolivar, says he has sought out trade and energy deals with South American neighbors to counter Washington's damaging influence in the region.

U.S. officials dismiss Chavez's accusations they are plotting his overthrow. They counter that the tough-talking, retired army paratrooper is working with Cuba as a destabilizing force in other South American countries.

Source: REUTERS

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