A full transcript and video of Pat Robertson’s recent statement advocating the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez are available at Media Matters. The following are available for interviews:

Rev. GRAYLAN SCOTT HAGLER
Rev. Hagler has written the article “Pat Robertson Is Not a Christian.” He is national president of Ministers for Racial, Social and Economic Justice and senior minister of the Plymouth Congregational United Church of Christ in Washington, D.C.
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WILLIAM BLUM
Author of the books Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower and Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Intervention Since World War II, Blum said today: “Any surprise at the notion of killing foreign leaders expressed by U.S. officials is certainly to be questioned — since World War II, the U.S. has plotted to assassinate more than 40 foreign political leaders, most recently Saddam Hussein and his two sons. Of course, the U.S. attempted to overthrow Chavez in a failed coup attempt in 2002 and, through the National Endowment for Democracy, tried to remove him through referendum, so assassination is only one of the ways the U.S. government illegitimately interferes in the affairs of other states.”
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EVA GOLINGER
A Venezuelan-American attorney and author of The Chavez Code: Cracking U.S. Intervention in Venezuela, Golinger said today: “The U.S. government has been attempting to undermine the Chavez administration because for the first time, a government in Venezuela is taking an independent course. Clearly Venezuela’s immense oil industry plays a major role, but beyond that, the U.S. government disapproves of Chavez’s successful foreign policy based around Latin American integration and sovereignty. It’s noteworthy that Pat Robertson mentioned the Monroe Doctrine when advocating the U.S. assassinate Chavez to preserve its ‘sphere of influence’ — as if this were a legitimate legal tenet and not a repugnant imperialist tendency. Domestically, the Venezuelan government is investing substantial resources in social programs like healthcare, education and job training, what Chavez has labeled 21st century socialism. This model has apparently angered many in the Bush administration.”
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For more information, contact at the Institute for Public Accuracy:
Sam Husseini, (202) 347-0020; or David Zupan, (541) 484-9167