[R-G] Venezuela Chavez says "Comrade" Obama more left-wing

[Anthony Fenton]

http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0252119420090603

Venezuela Chavez says "Comrade" Obama more left-wing
Tue Jun 2, 2009 9:39pm EDT

  CARACAS, June 2 (Reuters) - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez said  
on Tuesday that he and Cuban ally Fidel Castro risk being more  
conservative than U.S. President Barack Obama as Washington prepares  
to take control of General Motors Corp.

During one of Chavez's customary lectures on the "curse" of capitalism  
and the bonanzas of socialism, the Venezuelan leader made reference to  
GM's bankruptcy filing, which is expected to give the U.S. government  
a 60 percent stake in the 100-year-old former symbol of American might.

"Hey, Obama has just nationalized nothing more and nothing less than  
General Motors. Comrade Obama! Fidel, careful or we are going to end  
up to his right," Chavez joked on a live television broadcast.

During a decade in government, Chavez has nationalized most of  
Venezuela's key economic sectors, including multibillion dollar oil  
projects, often via joint ventures with the private sector that give  
the state a 60 percent controlling stake.

Obama has vowed to quickly sell off General Motors once the auto giant  
is back on its feet, but the government will initially control the  
company after a $30 billion injection of taxpayer funds.

Chavez, a vehement critic of the U.S. "empire," has toned down his  
rhetoric since Obama took office in January and the two men shook  
hands during a summit in Trinidad and Tobago in April. (Reporting by  
Enrique Andres Pretel; Writing by Frank Jack Daniel, Editing by Jackie  
Frank)