Chavez urges Columbus Day boycott

[Ayinde]

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has urged fellow Latin Americans not to mark Columbus Day, calling it a celebration of "genocide".

The 1492 discovery of the Americas triggered a 150-year slaughter of native Indians by foreign conquerors who behaved "worse than Hitler", the populist president told a meeting in Caracas of representatives of Indian people from across the continent.

"Christopher Columbus was the spearhead of the biggest invasion and genocide ever seen in the history of humanity,"

Columbus Day on 12 October is celebrated as a holiday in the United States and several Latin American nations, but Chavez said it should be remembered as the "Day of Indian Resistance."

"We Venezuelans, we Latin Americans, have no reason to honour Columbus," he added.

Massacre

The Venezuelan leader said Spanish, Portuguese and other foreign conquerors had massacred South America's Indian inhabitants at an average rate of roughly "one every 10 minutes". He described Spanish conquistadors like Hernan Cortes and Francisco Pizarro, as "worse than Hitler".

He said even the continent's geographical names, like America and Venezuela, were imposed by foreigners.

"Long live Sitting Bull!"

Chavez's opponents, who are seeking a referendum to try to vote him out of office, say his self-styled "revolution" in the world's fifth largest oil exporter is aimed at installing an anti-US communist system like the one in Cuba. Chavez says his brand of left-wing nationalism will make Venezuela more independent.

The Venezuelan leader hailed as heroes Indian chiefs who had fought against the invaders, such as Guaicaipuro who resisted the Spanish founders of Caracas, and American Indian chief Sitting Bull, who defeated US general George Armstrong Custer at the Battle of Little Bighorn in 1876.

"Long live Sitting Bull!" Chavez declared, drawing applause from his audience, many of whom wore traditional native clothes and head-dresses.

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/71D35D51-868B-46AB-BB2D-1EDE551F6DA9.htm

[leslie]

      christopher colombus is not a hero. he was not the first to discover or even re-discover the americas. he was the first to introduce disease,rape,exploitation (of land and humans alike) and ultimately disorder. the holiday should be removed.
      'christopher colombus day' is like adding salt to an open wound. what sick minds to even celebrate such a day.
      and to my little white friends...i know that if we remove the status of hero from chris' yall would have one less role model to look up to..upsetting isn't it!!! but yall would be sick in your minds to give recognition to a rapist and a murderer.
      remove the holiday and quickly...sick,sick minds...

[Bantu_Kelani]

Hugo Chavez shows the problems with being 'socialist' without confronting the capitalist system. Every time he has made efforts of 'reconciliation' and every time the ruling class has plotted to overthrow him. I appreciate Chavez staunch opposition to racist euro-centric arrogance!  As wherever you go in America, you will find examples; look for any plaque commemorating the genocidal psycho that was Christopher Columbus.

Here are just 2 examples in the U.S,
In D.C: "To the memory of Christopher Columbus, whose high faith and indomitable courage gave to mankind a new world"

And in Indianapolis: "Christopher Columbus, Discovered America October 12, 1492, This land of opportunity was thus preserved for humanity by the perennial genius abiding in the Italian race."

The message here is clear. "Mankind" only arrived in America when the Europeans got here. The millions of people living here before Columbus "discovered" America were not part of humanity...You can't avoid this no matter where you go. Every mention of a "discovery" of a mountain, river or place by a white European is saying "We are civilized, there was nothing here before us. The savages don't count".

The renaming of things is another example. In Alaska, the mountain called the great one Denali, was renamed when humanity arrived to Mt Mckinley. Still congress refuses to name it back to what it was before the superior race arrived. Still the arrogance continues.... This Euro-centric arrogance is alive and well in America. I 'm amazed Chavez has been able to hang in there, I send him all the positive vibes I can!!


Bantu-Kelani.