UNITED NATIONS — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called President Bush "the devil" in a speech to the United Nations on Wednesday, making the sign of the cross in a dramatic gesture and accusing Bush of "talking as if he owned the world."
The fiery speech by the leftist leader, one of the Bush's staunchest critics abroad, was harsher in tone than that of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, who sparred with Bush the previous day over Tehran's disputed nuclear program but avoided any personal insults.
"Yesterday, the devil came here," Chavez said, referring to Bush's address before the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday. "Right here. Right here. And it smells of sulfur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of."
He then made the sign of the cross, brought his hands together as if praying and looked up at the ceiling.
"Yesterday, ladies and gentlemen, from this rostrum, the president of the United States, the gentleman to whom I refer as the devil, came here, talking as if he owned the world. Truly. As the owner of the world," Chavez said.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Chavez's remarks were "not becoming for a head of state."
"I am not going to dignify a comment by the Venezuelan president to the president of the United States," Rice told reporters in New York. The main U.S. seat in the assembly hall was empty as Chavez spoke, though U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told The Associated Press that a "junior note-taker" was present, as is customary "when governments like that speak."
The address appeared to be one of Chavez's boldest moves yet to lead an alliance of countries firmly opposed to the Bush administration. The speech came after he crisscrossed the globe this summer visiting like-minded nations from Iran to Belarus.
The Venezuelan has become Latin America's leading voice against the U.S. government, and his speech was reminiscent of crusading addresses by his mentor Fidel Castro of Cuba and the late Argentine revolutionary Ernesto "Che" Guevara.
In his address, Chavez also called Bush a "spokesman of imperialism" who was trying "to preserve the current pattern of domination, exploitation and pillage of the peoples of the world."
"An Alfred Hitchcock movie could use it as a scenario. I would even propose a title: 'The Devil's Recipe,"' Chavez said.
He accused the U.S. of planning and financing a failed 2002 coup against him, a charge the U.S. denies. And he said the U.S. tries to impose its vision of democracy militarily in countries like Iran and Iraq.
"We appeal to the people of the United States and the world to halt this threat, which is like a sword hanging over our head," he said. "The imperialists see extremists everywhere. It's not that we are extremists. It's that the world is waking up."
At the start of his talk, Chavez held up a book by American writer Noam Chomsky, "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance," and recommended it to everyone in the General Assembly, as well as to the American people.
"The people of the United States should read this ... instead of watching Superman movies," Chavez later told reporters.
He called U.S. consumerism "madness," saying Americans have wasteful habits in using oil and energy. He held up a satellite photo showing the world at night, with bright light emanating from the United States and other wealthy countries.
Consuming less should be an environmental priority, he said, "instead of looking for oil" through the war in Iraq.
The United States continues to be the top buyer of Venezuelan oil, bringing the South American country billions of dollars in earnings that help fund Chavez's popular social programs.
Chavez also lambasted the U.S. government for trying to block Venezuela's campaign for a seat in the U.N. Security Council. He said if chosen over U.S.-favorite Guatemala in a secret-ballot U.N. vote next month, Venezuela would be "the voice of the Third World."
The council currently consists of five permanent members with veto power — the United States, Britain, Russia, China and France — and 10 non-permanent members who serve two-year terms and have no power to veto resolutions.
The U.S. argues that Venezuela — closely allied with Iran, Syria and Cuba — would be a disruptive force.