Chavez breaks silence on Twitter: Viva Qaddafi!

A number of commentators have wondered in recent days whether Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez would weigh in on the difficulties facing his old friend Muammar al-Qaddafi. Unlike his counterpart Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua, Chavez has been uncharacteristiaclly reserved as the man he once called the Simon Bolivar of Libya slowly loses control of his country. 

This morning, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro weighed in, echoing a recent column by Fidel Castro suggesting that the turmoil is just a pretext for a Western invasion of Libya. 

Today on Twitter, Chavez broke his silence to back up the foreign minister (roughly translated):

Go Chancellor Nicholas: Give another lesson to the pitiyanqui far right! Viva Libya and its independence! Qaddafi is facing a civil war!!

(Pitiyanqui is one of Chavez’s insults of choice for political opponents.)