"We Are Not Anti-US, We Are Anti-Imperialist" Hugo Chavez Interviewed by Cindy Sheehan http://groups.google.com/group/soc.culture.venezuela/browse_thread/thread/5dc3e2f94b8b3c42?pli=1

HC: Yes, we got to power in a peaceful way. And we have been able to  maintain it, relatively. We've never used violence, the  counterrevolution has used it against us. So the central strategy of  our peaceful, socialist revolution is to transfer power to the people.  I'm sure you've been able to see some of it with your own eyes in the  neighborhoods of Caracas. We are engaging in immense efforts to help  the people be sovereign. When we talk about power, what are we talking  about, Cindy? The first power that we all have is knowledge, so we've  made efforts in education, against illiteracy, to promote the  development of thought, study, analysis, in a way that has never  happened before.

Today, all of Venezuela is a giant school. Children  and senior citizens, all of us are studying and learning. Then there is  political power, the capacity to make decisions -- Community Councils,  Communes, People's Power, grassroots movements. We have economic power,  transferring economic power to the people, distributing the wealth to  the people. That is the principal force that guarantees the Bolivarian  Revolution will continue to be peaceful. 

Why do you think the Empire makes such a concerted effort to demonize you? HC: There are several reasons, but I have come to the conclusion that  there is one major reason. The Empire is afraid. The Empire is afraid  that the people of the US will find out the truth and something could  erupt in their own territory -- a Bolivarian movement, a Lincoln-esque  movement. A movement of citizens, conscious citizens that seek to  transform the system. Imperial fear killed Martin Luther King, Jr. The  only way to stop him was to kill him. Then, they repressed the citizens  of the US. So, why do they demonize us? They know the truth, but they  fear the truth. They fear the contagious effect. They fear a  revolution in the US. They fear an awakening in the US. 

One of the biggest names they call you in the US is dictator. Can you  explain why you are not a dictator? HC: I am against dictatorships. I'm an anti-dictator. From a political point of view, I've been elected four times by popular vote. In Venezuela, we have elections all the time. Once, Lula, the President of  Brazil, said that in Venezuela there is an excess of democracy! Every  year there are elections, referendums, popular consultations, elections  for governors, mayors -- right now we are starting campaigns for  elections in the National Assembly. In 2012, there will be presidential  elections. What dictator is elected so many times? What dictator calls  for elections all the time? I'm an anti-dictator. I'm a revolutionary.    A democratic revolutionary.

comment-see whole transcript at link above