Hugo Chavez at the UN

Mr. President: in only seven years the Bolivarian Revolution, the Venezuelan people, can show important social and economic conquests. 1,406,000 Venezuelans learned to read and to write in one and a half years, and our population only consists of 25 million people. In a few weeks, the country will be able to declare itself to be a territory free of illiteracy. Three million Venezuelans have incorporated to the primary, secondary and university education that before were excluded because of poverty. 17.000.000 Venezuelans, almost 70% of the population, receive for the first time in history free medical attention, including medicines. And in a few years, all Venezuelans will have access to excellent medical attention. More than 1,700,000 tons of food were distributed at reasonable prices to 12.000.000 people, almost half of the Venezuelans. 1.000.000 million of them are temporarily receiving this food for free. These measures have generated a high level of nutritional security for the most needy. Mr. President, 700,000 jobs have been created, reducing unemployment by 9 percentage points. All this has occurred in the middle of internal and external aggression that included a military coup, supported by Washington, and an oil strike, also supported by Washington. In spite of these conspiracies, and the lies that have appeared in the media and the permanent threats of the Empire and its allies. These threats have included the incitation to magnicide. The only country where a person has the luxury to request assassination of a Chief of State is the United States. This just happened when the Reverend Pat Robertson, a very good friend of the White House publicly requested my murder, and then walked free. This is an international crime, international terrorism.

Read the whole speech on ZNet