Julian Assange, still hiding in full view at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, sent a letter to the XV Encounter of the Network of Intellectuals, Artists and Social Movements in Defence of Humanity, held in Caracas, Venezuela (who knew there was such a thing?) earlier this week, praising Hugo Chávez, whose “virtues shook the world:”
[Former Venezuelan president Hugo] Chavez played the most important role on the global stage, with his tireless efforts to continue down the path of regional integration and cooperation and build a multi-polar world.
He denounced injustices as he saw them and in 2001 was the only leader to denounce the killings by the US of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, noting, “You cannot fight terrorism with terrorism”. A little over six months later, the US supported a coup against him that was defeated when hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans took to the streets, many of them with the constitution in hand.
Like all of us, he was not free from sin, but his virtues shook the world.
He says that as if it were a good thing, but I digress.
Assange went on to denounce Australia, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the United States (of course) as servants of imperialist interests.
Assange’s letter was timed to coincide not only with the latest Wikileaks dump, and the Venezuelan-hosted Encounter, but also with Ecuador’s upcoming runoff election.
Assange did not take time to show solidarity with starving Venezuelans eating garbage.
Assange is not your friend.
Cross-posted at WoW! Magazine.