Chavez shenanigans
Hugo Chavez, President of Venezuela and the man heralded by some as the new Castro, is visiting Oxford to address the University.
President Chavez will be speaking as part of Oxford's International Human Rights Seminar (IHRS) series, at Exam Schools on Thursday 17th, giving a lecture on 'Globalisation and Poverty'.
Currently on a brief tour of Europe, Chavez is generally regarded as the continent's most controversial leftist leader.
A former paratrooper in the Venezuelan army, he is the subject of polarised political opinion. Although adored by the poor, especially those living in the country's shantytowns, he is hated by the much of the powerful middle and upper classes, who accuse him of human rights violations.
The Oxford Student has been contacted by a number of Venezuelans demanding to know why Chavez is being allowed to lecture on human rights. One described Chavez as the "tropical version of Milosevic."
The IHRS has denounced these comments. In a statement it claimed that "a number of the messages purportedly written by different people... do in fact originate from the same computer."
But Ranty Islam, one of the organisers of Thursday's lecture and seminar, defended both Chavez and the decision to invite him to speak.
He described Chavez' new Constitution, democratically voted in two years ago, as containing "unheard of human rights provisions for indigenous people and minorities", and praised the new health care system it put in place.
17th Oct 2002