Caracas, Venezuela, Jul 18, 2007 / 10:05 am
The vice president of the Venezuelan Bishops’ Conference, Archbishop Roberto Luckert of Coro, defended the analysis of the current state of the country made recently by the bishops and asked President Hugo Chavez to respond “point by point as to where we lied.”
“What did we say in the document? We took an x-ray of the country. Let him respond point by point as to where we lied,” the archbishop said. The prelate’s challenge comes after Chavez called the bishops “perverts” and “liars.” Earlier this week, the Venezuelan president also said that the bishops were “acting like a political party.”
Chavez recently proposed abolishing the current term limits on the presidency as part of his constitutional reform package. However, Archbishop Luckert said he was against the idea of no term limits on the presidency as part of the constitutional reform, calling it an “atrocity” and a “euphemism.”
“It would seem like those of us Venezuelans who don’t understand are brutes and ignoramuses, but this is part of the example of Fidel, who has been installed in that country for life and will only give up power when he surrenders his soul to God,” the archbishop said.