I've so far been unable to find confirmation of this anywhere else, but JTA is reporting the following remark from Venezuela's president:
"The world offers riches to all. However, minorities such as the descendants of those who crucified Christ" have become "the owners of the riches of the world," Chavez said Dec. 24 on a visit to a rehabilitation center in the Venezuelan countryside.Is that from the same speech as this one?
Venezuela: President Hugo Chavez praised Jesus Christ as a revolutionary hero during a Christmas Eve visit to a homeless shelter. "For me, Christmas is Christ. The rebel Christ, the revolutionary Christ, the socialist Christ,'' he said during a televised speech from the shelter.Are we back here to a 'socialism of fools'?
Update at 5.10 PM: The 'those who crucified Christ' quote can be found, in Spanish, on page 18 here [pdf].
Update at 8.25 AM on December 31: 'Those who crucified Christ' is often used as an anti-Semitic trope, but from the context of the remark, in particular, what follows about the fate of Simon Bolivar, it isn't clear that there was anti-Semitic intent on Chavez's part.