“Remember, little girl, I’m like the thorn tree that flowers on the plain…. Don’t mess with me,
Condoleezza. Don’t mess with me, girl.”, in a Sunday broadcast after Secretary of State Rice said
Venezuela was a menace to democracy, February 2006.
“If one day you ever get the crazy idea of invading Venezuela, I’ll be waiting for you on
this savanna.” , addressed to “Mr. Danger” (President Bush), while seated behind a desk in a
field, with cows, on his weekly TV show “Alo Presidente,” 2006.
“And the Devil came here yesterday. Yesterday the Devil came here. Right here.
. And it smells of sulphur still today.”, on President George W. Bush, at the U.N.
September 2006.
“I hope this doesn’t harm Obama, but if I was from the United States, I’d vote for Obama. I think
that if Obama was from Barlovento or some Caracas neighborhood, he’d vote for Chavez.”, on
TV, prior to U.S. and Venezuelan presidential elections, September 2012.
“It would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived
there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet.”, in a World Water Day speech, March
2011.
“Would it be so strange that they [the United States] have invented the technology to spread
cancer and we won’t know about it for 50 years?”, in a speech to the military, December
2011.
Great thanks to Susan Brenneman, Wes Bausmith, The Los Angeles Times.
