HARARE President Robert Mugabe, the ex-Ugandan dictator Idi Amin, Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Carlos the Jackal aren't such bad guys after all, said Venezuela's President, Hugo Chavez He told a gathering of like-minded revolutionary socialists at a gathering in Caracas that too many well-meaning and patriotic leaders have been branded “bad guys” because they dared stand up to Amercian Imperialism. Robert Mugabe, he said, was one of them.
He described the Zimbabwean despot and Mahmour Ahmadinejad as “brothers” and told socialists that everyone thought Idi Amin was a cannibal. “I have my doubts,” he said.” I don’t know, maybe he was a great nationalist, a patriot.”
According to the Venezuelan leader who is keen to be declared a life president like so many of the African leaders he admires, Carlos the Jackal wasn’t a bad guy either. Rather was he a “revolutionary fighter” who served the cause of Palestinians.
Carlos, whose real name is Ilich Ramirez Sanchez, gained fame in the 1970s. He was turned into an international “star” after Frederick Forsyth penned “The Day of the Jackal”.
The mastermind behind a series of bombings, assassinations and hostage takings, Carlos was captured in Sudan in 1994 and handed over to France where he is serving a life sentence for killing two French intelligence officers.
Hugo Chavez failed to hand out CVs for Robert Mugabe and Idi Amin and sadly none of their victims were in Venezuela last week to testify.
The latter slaughtered at least 300,000 Ugandans between 1971-1979.
The former butchered anything between 20,000 to 30,000 men, women and children in Matabeleland and the Midlands during a rampage against so-called “dissidents” between 1983 -1987.
Post published in: News