MADRID, Nov. 23 (UPI) -- Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez, on a visit to Spain, praised the Spanish government for its independence from Washington.
Speaking with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at a Madrid university Monday, Chavez lamented the "sad Spain" of the previous conservative government, which he said was "so subordinated to the mandates of Washington," La Vanguardia reported.
"But how good it is to see now a happy Spain, free and independent with new ideas," he said in front of hundreds of students.
Chavez had earlier received a warm public welcome from Zapatero, who also lauded Chavez's efforts at "liberating" Venezuela from the demands of the United States.
Much of the discussion centered on a critical analysis of U.S. politics. True to his ideology, Chavez paraphrased the words of South American revolutionary Simon Bolivar, saying "The United States seems predestined to plague America with miseries in the name of liberty."
He affirmed his support for Zapatero's proposal in October of an "alliance of civilizations," a high level assembly working to ally the Western and the Islamic world, which Chavez said could be an alternative to the U.S. doctrine of "preventative war."
The comments come just two days before King Juan Carlos and Queen Sophia of Spain are due to meet with George Bush at Crawford, with the aim of healing the rift between Madrid and Washington.
