CHAVEZ : "AN OFFENSIVE HAS BEEN UNLEASHED AGAINST IMPERIALISM" The Venezuelan president greeted the audience, telling them they are fighting for "a different world, a better world, of peace and justice, which is not only possible, it is necessary now! Not tomorrow!" With the tens of thousands of WSF participants from around the world, Caracas "has been filled with magic," he said.

President Hugo Chávez proclaimed Friday night before an overflow crowd that "a new offensive has been unleashed from Latin America, Africa and Asia against the imperialisms of the world, by whatever name."

After reiterating his criticisms of the United States, Chávez announced he would sign a contract with Bolivia to supply petroleum, with an exchange of products like poultry and cattle, and announced a coordinated education programme, so that Bolivian youth can study in Cuban and Venezuelan universities.

He evoked Pancho Villa, Sandino and Farabundo Martí, called for a minute of shouts and "vivas" for the leftist Salvadoran leader Shafik Chandal, who died of a heart attack Wednesday upon returning to San Salvador after attending the inauguration of Bolivia's President Evo Morales.

However, he urged the WSF to agree on "a work plan, an action plan to drive these efforts in Latin America, in Asia, in Africa." Chávez said it would be "terrible" if the WSF turned into an annual festival of revolutionary toursim.

At the beginning of his speech, Chávez referred to Venezuela's two main historic figures: Independence hero Simón Bolívar, and Francisco de Miranda, who "wanted the union of South America, taking as a premise the deep roots of Latin America.

"He proposed the Inca way, that civilisation that existed here and is arising once again from the shores of Lake Titicaca, from Tiahuanaco, from Cuzco. The Inca are arising again, and the Aymara and the Quechua and the Aztec and the Maya... The Inca who upon being executed by the Spaniards said he would return as millions." "Tupac Katarí has returned as millions!" proclamed Chávez, going on to shout "viva!" for Africa, "the Africa we carry inside us." "We must change the path of history in the 21st century," he said, and referred to Cuba's President Fidel Castro, along with Brazil's President José Inacio Lula da Silva. In regards to what he sees as the U.S. offensive against the progressive governments of South America, he said, "They have tried to classify us as two different 'lefts'. The madmen are Fidel and me, while Lula and Tabaré (Vázquez, president of Uruguay) are statists." Together, he said, the governments of the region would lead an historic defeat of the political right wing.

Chávez turned his attention to U.S. President George W. Bush, calling him "Mr. Danger", who leads "a perverse empire", because "he talks about human rights", while torture continues and people disappear in secret prisons.

He charged that Washington is now seeking to accuse Venezuela of protecting terrorist, but "no matter how many mechanisms they put into place, no matter how much power they have... they won't be able to defeat us... This century we will bury the North American empire, you can be sure of that."