Bush 'a terrorist': Chavez

At a rally against imperialism, Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has told thousands of cheering activists at the World Social Forum that the US government is a vile “empire” and its president a ”terrorist”.

Chavez waved and blew kisses when he stepped on stage in a Caracas stadium, then launched into fierce criticism of US president George Bush’s government.

“It’s the most perverse, murderous, genocidal, immoral empire that this planet has known in 100 centuries,” Chavez said.

He ticked off the names of revolutionary icons from Simon Bolivar to Ernesto “Che” Guevara who had “resisted imperialism”, and urged people to join forces against it.