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The United States empire is on its way down and it will be
finished in the near future, inshallah," Chavez told reporters, ending the statement with the Arabic phrase for "God willing."
NEW
YORK Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, appearing Thursday at a Harlem Church for an oil-for-poor event, repeated his 'devil'
reference hurled a day earlier at President Bush during a speech at the United Nations.
As Chavez spoke in Harlem,
U.S. Rep. Charles Rangel railed against the Venezuelan leader for choosing his New York congressional district to launch an
attack on the president of the United States."You don't come into my country, you don't come into my congressional district
and criticize my president, " Rangel said from Capitol Hill.
He added that "it would be crazy to think that Americans do
not feel offended" by Chavez's remarks.
New York Governor George Pataki called for a united front by Americans from
all political parties to stand together against Chavez.
In Harlem, the crowd chanted in Spanish, "Chavez, Chavez, the
people are with you," as he walked into the church dressed in his signature red shirt.
Chavez called Bush a "sick man"
who was "very dangerous because he has so much power."
The event, one of a series designed to boost the Venezuelan
leader's popularity in the U.S., was organized by Citgo, a Houston-based energy company that is owned and controlled by the
Venezuelan government.
Venezuelan officials and Citgo employees handed out T-shirts before the event with the name
of the program "From The Venezuelan Heart To The U.S. Hearths" printed across the front.
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