Honduran Cardinal Oscar Andrés Rodríguez Maradiaga said President Hugo Chávez “feels like a god” and Venezuela is set for great pain if the country continues under a totalitarian regime.
“He feels like a god and thinks he has the right to abuse other people with an arrogance that has been seen in other dictators over history and who are remembered as tyrants,” said the prelate in statements published last July 22 in daily newspaper El Diario de Hoy, said AP.
“Chávez is blind, deaf,” Rodríguez added in the interview offered following a conference in the Salvadoran capital town.
According to Rodríguez, the Venezuelan ruler should be “humble” and willing to dialogue “because every person should admit they are children of God and do not own the truth 100 percent.”
He added that Venezuela “is headed for great pain, because every time a totalitarian government emerges, the people’s freedom is undermined.”
Chávez’ government has kept tense relations with the Catholic Church and even criticized Pope Benedict XVI, Rodríguez reminded.
