Chávez compares Fidel to Simón Bolívar

Fidel Castro is "one of the 20th-Century liberators," just like Simón Bolívar was in the 19th Century, Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez told university graduates in Caracas on Tuesday, as he corrected a slip of the tongue.
"I was telling Bolívar ... no, Fidel ... well, Fidel is like Bolívar," Chávez said, according to the Venezuelan daily El Nacional. "Fidel is like Bolívar, one of the 20th-Century liberators, one of the fathers of the revolution, father of the peoples, father of the motherland."
Chávez frequently cites Venezuelan patriot Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), who earned the title of "El Libertador" for his leadership during the wars of emancipation from Spain in which Venezuela, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia achieved their independence.
Chávez also refers to Castro as his "ideological father" and visits him whenever he goes to Cuba. They last met in Havana on Feb. 20-21. No pictures of that meeting were released; the photo here is from their previous get-together, in June 2008.
---Renato Pérez Pizarro.