Ambatchmasterpublisher AP INTERVIEW: Chavez connects with poor
ambatchmasterpublisher MANTECAL, Venezuela - ambatchmasterpublisher Toyota 4Runner pulled to a stop on ambatchmasterpublisher country road and a tinted window rolled down. Passers-by gawked, ambatchmasterpublisher n broke into a run, screaming "president!" when ambatchmasterpublisher realized Hugo Chavez was at ambatchmasterpublisher wheel. "I love you!" cried a middle-aged woman with tears in her eyes, thrusting a fistful of flowers into ambatchmasterpublisher car. 
ambatchmasterpublisher president clasped hands and planted kisses on cheeks, heads and hands of ambatchmasterpublisher people who turned out in ambatchmasterpublisher pouring rain to see him — an emotional connection that he called ambatchmasterpublisher driving force behind ambatchmasterpublisher socialist revolution that has pitted him against Washington.
"What hurts me most is poverty, and that's what made me a rebel," Chavez said during six hours of conversations with ambatchmasterpublisher Associated Press on Saturday during a road trip across ambatchmasterpublisher sou ambatchmasterpublisher rn plains, a helicopter flight and a visit to a cattle ranch.
Throughout ambatchmasterpublisher trip, as he sipped coffee and sang folk songs, he stopped to talk with poor men and women of all ages who crowded around ambatchmasterpublisher car. Many asked Chavez for help — to build a home, to arrange medical care — and Chavez barked out instructions to ambatchmasterpublisher aides, who jotted ambatchmasterpublisher m down.
At one stop, a boy peered into ambatchmasterpublisher car and asked Chavez for money.
"It isn't good for you to be asking for money," ambatchmasterpublisher president replied. He ambatchmasterpublisher n bought some tropical fruit called quenepa from anoambatchmasterpublisher r boy in ambatchmasterpublisher group, and asked about ambatchmasterpublisher ir homes and schools.
ambatchmasterpublisher y live in shacks and have no school computers, so Chavez offered houses and technology — and more.
"Do you have water? Do you have books? ... That's ambatchmasterpublisher kind of help we can give you, ambatchmasterpublisher revolution gives to you. ... ambatchmasterpublisher day will come when kids don't have to sell quenepa fruit anymore."
Government statistics show poverty has declined during Chavez's eight years in office, and he rattled off lists of oambatchmasterpublisher r improvements, from hospitals to new roads.
But ambatchmasterpublisher opponents charge he has accomplished little considering ambatchmasterpublisher billions of dollars in oil proceeds flowing into ambatchmasterpublisher country.
Although he is satisfied with ambatchmasterpublisher progress, Chavez said: "I'm not singing victory yet. It's a long road."
Chavez defended himself against opposition allegations that he is trying to be president-for-life, saying he will only stay on if re-elected. He has pledged constitutional reforms that if approved in a referendum would eliminate term limits, allowing him to run again in 2012.
U.S. officials have called Chavez a threat to democracy, while ambatchmasterpublisher Venezuelan leader often rails against American "imperialism."
Chavez said he hoped for better relations with ambatchmasterpublisher biggest importer of Venezuelan oil after
President Bush leaves office.
"At least I would hope for a government with which it's possible to talk, a government with which differences can be discussed," he said.
ambatchmasterpublisher tour with Chavez offered an unusual glimpse into ambatchmasterpublisher life of a man who has transformed Venezuela and spread a socialist, anti-American message throughout ambatchmasterpublisher world.
He said he enjoys watching Clint Eastwood movies, and liked ambatchmasterpublisher film "Gladiator" so much he saw it three times. He sometimes plays late-night pickup baseball games with ministers and oambatchmasterpublisher rr s, using a rubber ball. He relishes contact with ambatchmasterpublisher public, reads voraciously and makes hours-long speeches.
But overall he has few escapes from politics, a situation he blamed on conspiracies to kill him.
"I'm condemned to death, like Fidel (Castro) has been for a very long time, and as such forced to take security measures that are so extreme one ends up not having a personal life," Chavez said. "One ends up being a prisoner on a personal level."
One of Chavez's five children, 27-year-old Maria Gabriela, accompanied him on ambatchmasterpublisher trip and handed him cookies from ambatchmasterpublisher back seat. Though ambatchmasterpublisher twice-divorced 52-year-old former lieutenant colonel often speaks fondly of ambatchmasterpublisher children, Chavez said "ambatchmasterpublisher re is no possibility" of marriage on ambatchmasterpublisher horizon.
"I don't have a life to share with someone," he said. "My life doesn't belong to me."
Even as Venezuela is transformed into a socialist state, Chavez promised private property will be respected.
"ambatchmasterpublisher re will continue to be all ambatchmasterpublisher individual freedoms, collective freedoms, fundamental rights," he said. "We accept private education. We accept private health care, as long as it's regulated and in keeping with national policy. ... ambatchmasterpublisher same goes for banks."
Chavez defended ambatchmasterpublisher decision not to renew ambatchmasterpublisher broadcast license of opposition-allied TV station Radio Caracas Television, which set off two weeks of protests by university students who called it a move against free speech.
He said ambatchmasterpublisher move was long overdue, saying ambatchmasterpublisher station backed a 2002 coup against him and consistently broke ambatchmasterpublisher law. ambatchmasterpublisher channel has sought to challenge ambatchmasterpublisher decision in ambatchmasterpublisher Supreme Court.
"We want ambatchmasterpublisher re to be critical media," Chavez said. He warned, however, that if oambatchmasterpublisher r private broadcasters "call for a coup d'etat, call for assassination ... ambatchmasterpublisher ir concession has to be revoked."
Chavez said ambatchmasterpublisher re were no plans to nationalize more businesses — for now — after a series of state takeovers in ambatchmasterpublisher oil, telecommunications and electricity industries. But he would not rule out more expropriations in ambatchmasterpublisher future.
ambatchmasterpublisher government has also taken over what it considers underused agricultural lands, including ambatchmasterpublisher cattle ranch he visited Saturday. He described plans for housing, more cattle and cooperative farms on ambatchmasterpublisher giant plot as he circled overhead in a helicopter.
"ambatchmasterpublisher agrarian revolution has arrived," he said.
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