Maravi

Chavez was a great leader - KK

Chavez was a great leader - KK
By Staff Reporters
Thu 07 Mar. 2013, 14:00 CAT

DR Kenneth Kaunda says late Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez was a great leader. And Dr Kaunda is expected to be honoured with a doctorate degree by Incheon University of South Korea in April this year for his extemporary contribution to Africa.

In an interview yesterday shortly after South Korea's Incheon Metropolitan City vice-mayor, Kim Hyo-Seok, visited his residence, Dr Kaunda said Chavez was a great leader of Venezuela and a good and loving friend to developing countries.

"His greatness was his love for the poor not only in his country but even in developing countries," Dr Kaunda said.

"What he did for Venezuela speaks volumes."
A teary-eyed Dr Kaunda prayed that the people of Venezuela get a chance to elect a "brother" to the late president.

"We hope the good Lord Almighty will guild them towards finding a leader similar in quality, in thought, word with Chavez," added Dr Kaunda.
And Mbita Chitala says Zambia should derive lessons from Chavez's leadership and emulate his resource nationalism policy.

In an interview, Dr Chitala who is Zambia Research Foundation executive director, described Chavez as a rare fearless leader who fought imperialism for the benefit of his nation.

"Chavez was such a fearless leader and there are very few in this world remaining. He showed the Western world that he could use fewer resources to build his country's economy. Zambia with its copper can emulate the resource nationalism policy. The mineral resources can help build this nation if used prudently," said Dr Chitala.

And PF secretary general Wynter Kabimba said Chavez should be remembered for achieving 100 per cent literacy levels among citizens in two years.
"He was a man of the people and a voice for the voiceless. In just two years, Chavez achieved 100 per cent literacy levels for his people. Our wish as PF is that his ideas do not die with him."

Kabimba also hoped that Vice-President Nicolas Maduro would take-over the mantle and lead Venezuela to greater prosperity.
And a member of the Pan Africanist Movement in Zambia says Chavez's death is a great loss to the world's anti-imperialist movement.

Sibanze Simuchoba, a Lusaka-based legal practitioner, said in an interview yesterday that the late Venezuelan leader was an indefatigable fighter for the wretched of the earth and was also a true leader of his people.

"He used his influence and authority in Venezuela and beyond to speak and work for the upliftment of the vulnerable, by taking head-on the imperialist forces whose full-time occupation is exploitation of surrogate states in Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America," Simuchoba said.

"It will be impossible to replace him but we are comforted that he built enough especially in terms of human resources, because there will be another hand stretched out as we speak to take on the baton of standing up to the Yankee imperialist and their admirers."

President Chavez, a stalwart Bolivarian-inclined leader of one the world's major oil producing nations, died on Tuesday at 58 from cancer.

Cuba has declared three days of mourning for who the firebrand leftist leader who succumbed to cancer while Venezuela has decreed seven days of national mourning.

Foreign minister Elias Jaua said international dignitaries would be received tomorrowfor the funeral at the Military Academy of Caracas.
In Cuba, the Revolutionary government declared official mourning from yesterday to today while tomorrow would be the national mourning day.
The Cuban Council of State suspended all public entertainment and festive activities while the national flag would be hoisted at half-mast on public buildings and military establishments.

"With a deep and searing sorrow, our people and the revolutionary government have known of the death of President Hugo Rafael Chavez Frias and are preparing to pay a heartfelt and patriotic tribute in his entry into history as a Hero of Our Americas.

We express our sincere condolences to his parents, brothers, his daughters and his son and to all his relatives who are our own, in the same way Chavez is also a son of Cuba and of Latin America and the Caribbean, and the world. In this moment of profound sadness, we share the deepest feelings of solidarity with the fraternal people of Venezuela who we will accompany in every circumstance," reads in part the Cuban government's message read on national television.

Under Chavez, Venezuela became Cuba's lead trading partner and benefactor following the demise of the Soviet Union.

Chavez and Cuban revolutionary leader Fidel Castro were close allies.
The Cuban government stated that Chavez felt in his flesh the difficulties and problems in Cuba and did the best with his extraordinary generosity especially in the most difficult years of the special period (the end of the USSR).

"The Bolivarian Revolution will have our determined and unlimited support in these difficult days," the Cuban government stressed. "We will always remember him as a patriotic military man at the service of Venezuela and the big homeland; as an honest, lucid, audacious and brave revolutionary fighter, as leader and supreme commander who reincarnated Bolivar to do what he couldn't finish; founder of the Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) and of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States. His example will guide us in the next battles."

Vice-President Maduro who announced Chavez's death on Tuesday afternoon (Venezuela time) called on Venezuelans to face the "immensely painful" moment with great fortitude and calmness.

"We have received the toughest and the most tragic information that comandante President Hugo Chavez died today at 4:25 pm," he said. "This is a historical tragedy. Comandate, where are you sir? Thank you, a thousand times. Thank you on behalf of the people that you protected, a people that never failed you. One can only understand and respect the greatest ideals of peace that Hugo Chavez pursued."

Under the Venezuelan constitution, the head of the congress or national assembly, in this case Diosdado Cabello, will assume the interim presidency before the election is held. The election will be held within 30 days.

President Chavez was yet to be sworn-in for the new six-year mandate following his victory on October 7, 2012. Before departure for Cuba for surgery on December 8, Chavez said if he was incapacitated or died, Vice-President Maduro should be elected president of Venezuela.

Chavez was receiving treatment following an operation in Cuba on December 11, 2012. Chavez succumbed to cancer after four surgeries and cycles of chemotherapy and radiation therapy. He first had surgery to remove a cancerous tumour in the pelvic region on June 10, 2011.

And Vice-President Maduro said he had activated a special deployment of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces to guarantee public safety.

"Respect and peace have to go hand in hand in the immense pain of this historic tragedy which has today touched our country," he said. "From this moment on, it is forbidden to weep…let us sing to honour him. Let's sing him songs by Ali Primera Venezuelan poet, musician and political activist.

With Ali's song and the spirit of Hugo Chavez, let us raise the greatest forces of this homeland to confront the challenges ahead of us. Our people can be assured that they have a government of men and women committed to protect them.

Those who die for life cannot be called dead. To those factors who never supported him; respect the pain of the people and we call you to peace as Venezuelan men and women. It is a moment to think about our families, our country… We say respect, respect. Much fortitude and prayer. Honour and glory to Hugo Chavez. May he live forever."

Bolivia President Evo Morales said Chavez was more alive than ever.
"Chavez will always be with us," President Morales said from the Palacio Quemado as broadcast by TeleSur.

Mexico's Enrique Pena Nieto and Peru President Ollanta Humala also paid tribute to Chavez.

"Goodbye commander and friend. My deepest condolences to his family and the people of Venezuela," wrote President Humala.

Labels: HUGO CHAVEZ, KENNETH KAUNDA, LIBERATION

posted by MrK @ 5:45 PM