Kolkata accords rousing welcome to Chavez
Indo-Asian News Service
Kolkata, March 5, 2005
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Saturday sang and danced along with thousands of people in Kolkata where the Communist leader was accorded a rousing welcome.
Chavez swayed to the tunes of Spanish songs dished out by a musical group at a football stadium, where about 50,000 people packed in to hear an emotional anti-imperialist speech by the Venezuelan leader.
"The US can not expect to grab and enjoy all the good things in the world. We will not let that happen," Chavez, who spoke in Spanish, said to a huge roar of approval from the crowd.
While Chavez spoke animatedly against "US imperialism", top Communist leaders of West Bengal, including Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattachaya, nodded and clapped, agreeing with what he said.
"We will provide more oil to countries like India and China. We have come forward to help India with oil so that it can become a front ranking country in the world," he said.
Thousands of people, including school students and women, waited for hours for Chavez to arrive. He was late by about two-and-a-half hours as people whiled away their time listening to Spanish songs played on a public address system. Schoolchildren waved flags of India and Venezuela.
© HT Media Ltd. 2004.