Hugo Chavez: Maybe Capitalism Ended Life on Mars

He blames it for many things, but this takes the cake
By John Johnson,  Newser Staff
Posted Mar 22, 2011 7:45 PM CDT
Hugo Chavez: Maybe Capitalism Ended Life on Mars
Venezuela President Hugo Chavez in a file photo.   (AP Photo/Fernando Llano)

Sammy Hagar was this close to having the day's weirdest quote (it's here) about extraterrestrial life, but then Venezuela's Hugo Chavez gave a speech. "I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet," he said, according to Reuters. There's no indication he was joking, and the Wall Street Journal plays it the same way.

Chavez's comment came during a speech to mark World Water Day. He added: "Careful! Here on planet Earth where hundreds of years ago or less there were great forests, now there are deserts. Where there were rivers, there are deserts." The military action against Libya, he added, is all about water and oil reserves. (More Hugo Chavez stories.)

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