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POLITICS

Chavez calls Merkel a political descendent of Hitler

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Sunday sharply attacked German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of her Latin America visit, calling her a political descendent of Adolf Hitler and fascism.

Published: 12 May 2008 10:17 CEST
Chavez calls Merkel a political descendent of Hitler
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez. Photo:DPA

The leftist leader slammed Merkel for recent comments saying the Venezuelan leader was not the voice of Latin America and calling on Latin American leaders to distance themselves from Chavez.

“She (Merkel) is from the German right, the same that supported Hitler, that supported fascism, that’s the Chancellor of Germany today,” Chavez said in Caracas.

Merkel is to make her first visit to Latin America next week, travelling to Brazil on Wednesday. She will attend an EU-Latin America summit in Peru. On May 20, the German leader is to visit Colombia and Mexico.

In an interview with the Spanish service of news agency dpa on Saturday, Merkel she had observed a “leftist populism” in some countries in Latin America. “I don’t believe that state-run economies can tackle urgent problems better and in a more sustainable manner. Our experiences in Europe show that,” Merkel said. She also called for more efforts to tackle poverty in Latin America. The EU should support countries to eliminate social inequalities, she added.

Chavez said he could confront Merkel about the statements if he attends the upcoming summit of heads of state from Europe and Latin America in Peru. “Maybe I’ll say something to her and she’ll get mad and say ‘why don’t you shut up?'” he said, in a reference to a row with Spanish King Juan Carlos last November in Santiago de Chile.

At the time, Chavez had tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero at an Iberian-American summit, prompting a strong admonition by King Juan Carlos who said, “Why don’t you shut up?” The spat triggered a week-long crisis between Madrid and Caracas.

On Sunday, Chavez praised Brazilian leader, Luiz Lula da Silva, for making clear to “our blue-blooded friends in Europe” they need not fear Latin America’s Left.

Chavez, who famously called US President George W Bush “the devil” at a UN assembly, is notorious for his inflammatory remarks. On Sunday, he called Colombian President Alvaro Uribe a “liar” who “shouldn’t even run a corner store.” In the past, he has called US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld “one of the dogs of the devil” and then-President of Mexico Vicente Fox the “lap-dog of the empire.”

GERMANY AND RUSSIA

Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

Germany and the Czech Republic on Friday blamed Russia for a series of recent cyberattacks, prompting the European Union to warn Moscow of consequences over its "malicious behaviour in cyberspace".

Published: 4 May 2024 10:29 CEST
Germany, Czech Republic accuse Russia of cyberattacks

The accusations come at a time of strained relations between Moscow and the West following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and the European Union’s support for Kyiv.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said a newly concluded government investigation found that a cyberattack targeting members of the Social Democratic Party had been carried out by a group known as APT28.

APT28 “is steered by the military intelligence service of Russia”, Baerbock told reporters during a visit to Australia.

“In other words, it was a state-sponsored Russian cyberattack on Germany and this is absolutely intolerable and unacceptable and will have consequences.”

APT28, also known as Fancy Bear, has been accused of dozens of cyberattacks in countries around the world. Russia denies being behind such actions.

The hacking attack on German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s SPD party was made public last year. Hackers exploited a previously unknown vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook to compromise e-mail accounts, according to Berlin.

Berlin on Friday summoned the acting charge d’affaires of the Russian embassy over the incident.

The Russian embassy in Germany said its envoy “categorically rejected the accusations that Russian state structures were involved in the given incident… as unsubstantiated and groundless”.

Arms, aerospace targeted: Berlin 

German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser said the cyber campaign was orchestrated by Russia’s military intelligence service GRU and began in 2022. It also targeted German companies in the armaments and aerospace sectors, she said.

Such cyberattacks are “a threat to our democracy, national security and our free societies”, she told a joint news conference in Prague with her Czech counterpart Vit Rakusan.

“We are calling on Russia again to stop these activities,” Faeser added.

Czech government officials said some of its state institutions had also been the target of cyberattacks blamed on APT28, again by exploiting a weakness in Microsoft Outlook in 2023.

Czech Interior Minister Rakusan said his country’s infrastructure had recently experienced “higher dozens” of such attacks.

“The Czech Republic is a target. In the long term, it has been perceived by the Russian Federation as an enemy state,” he told reporters.

EU, NATO condemnation

The German and Czech findings triggered strong condemnation from the European Union.

“The malicious cyber campaign shows Russia’s continuous pattern of irresponsible behaviour in cyberspace, by targeting democratic institutions, government entities and critical infrastructure providers across the European Union and beyond,” EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said.

The EU would “make use of the full spectrum of measures to prevent, deter and respond to Russia’s malicious behaviour in cyberspace”, he added.

State institutions, agencies and entities in other member states including in Poland, Lithuania, Slovakia and Sweden had been targeted by APT28 in the past, the statement added.

The latest accusations come a day after NATO expressed “deep concern” over Russia’s “hybrid actions” including disinformation, sabotage and cyber interference.

The row also comes as millions of Europeans prepare to go to the polls for the European Parliament elections in June, and concerns about foreign meddling are running high.

Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipavsky told AFP that “pointing a finger publicly at a specific attacker is an important tool to protect national interests”.

One of the most high-profile incidents so far blamed on Fancy Bear was a cyberattack in 2015 that paralysed the computer network of the German lower house of parliament, the Bundestag. It forced the entire institution offline for days while it was fixed.

In 2020, the EU imposed sanctions on individuals and entities linked to the APT28 group over the incident.

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