Hugo Chavez kicks off Russia visit with emotional speech at a Moscow University

For the eighth time, Venezuela's President is visiting Russia. While in Russia, Hugo Chavez is expected to meet President Medvedev and Prime Minister Putin. But first he spoke before students at a Moscow University.

Having been late by more than an hour for a speech at University of People’s Friendship, Chavez received a warm welcome from the audience and delivered a passionate speech. As witnesses say, it was probably the most passionate speech the walls of the University Hall have seen in its almost fifty year history.

In his speech, Chavez touched upon a wide number of issues, ranging from policy to culture to history. While speaking, Chavez made many jokes, one, for instance, was about his attitude towards women.

“I've declared myself a feminist. I am a feminist. And I think a revolutionary must be a feminist,” the President said. “Because women are something special and each socialist must be a feminist. Because women have suffered so much more through history. They were not respected for so many centuries and we must respect them now. In my heart, I firmly believe that one of the reasons the world is now in danger is the domination of men over women.”

But as he continued to address the audience, his statements grew stronger and stronger. Speaking about international terrorism, President Chavez said the United States does not have right to blame the world for this threat.

“In all history, there was never a government more terrorist than that of the US empire. That's the greatest terrorists in the world history,” said the Venezuelan President.

With this comment, Hugo Chavez once again reminded the world community about the strained relations his country has with the United States. He later mentioned an important role Russia played in ensuring Venezuela’s international integrity. President Chavez repeatedly called the United States “the Yankee generation” and said that this era was over and time has come for a multi-polar world.

“This world is too big for the Yankee Empire, they will not be able to dominate everybody. The Yankee empire will fall. It's already falling, It will disappear from the face of the world, and it's going to happen this century,” said Hugo Chavez.

After the address that took the President more than two hours, Hugo Chavez sang a patriotic song, “Venezuela,” while accompanied by a band.