Venezuela leader lauds Belarus, blasts capitalism

MINSK, July 24 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday praised ex-Soviet Belarus, accused in the West of crushing fundamental rights, as a model state and called for joint efforts to counter ''hegemonic'' capitalism.

Chavez, a self-described leftist revolutionary who commands vast oil revenues, is on a world tour, partly to win support for a bid to win a place on the UN Security Council. He sees the seat as a way to resist what he terms a decadent U.S. empire.

Chavez and Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko seemed likely to find common language at talks today.

''Belarus is a model of a social state which we are also building,'' Chavez told reporters yesterday at Minsk airport at the start of a two-day visit dominated by military themes and possible trade and technology sharing deals.

''We do not want to be deceived or exploited by anyone. We must defend the interests of the individual and not the hegemonic interests of the capitalists, wherever they may be, in Europe or Latin America.'' Chavez is hugely popular among Venezuela's poor, as is Lukashenko among Belarussians outside the capital who say he has spared them poverty and upheaval by eschewing the radical market reforms that have shaken other ex-Soviet states.

Chavez will also visit a military academy and an outdoor military museum. Officials have offered him a chance to use a rocket launcher and other equipment if he wishes.

''Our two countries are strategic partners,'' Lukashenko's press secretary Pavel Lyokhky told reporters. ''Venezuela and Belarus are united in seeking a world that is not unipolar, but rather multi-polar.'' Chavez will stop in Russia to buy 24 Sukhoi SU-30 combat planes. Also on his itinerary are Qatar, Iran, Vietnam and Mali.

Both Washington and the EU have barred entry to Lukashenko, accused by the United States and European Union of rigging his own re-election in March and of regularly hounding opponents and closing down independent media.

Lukashenko regularly accuses the West of trying to destabilise his administration and makes only infrequent visits outside Russia, his main ally, and other ex-Soviet states.

Leaders of ex-Soviet states were in Minsk last month for a meeting of a collective defence treaty. Western leaders have not visited Belarus since the late 1990s.

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