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PORT-AU-PRINCE (Haiti): Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, shadowing his political foil, U.S. President George W. Bush on a tour of Western hemisphere nations, said Mr. Bush represents the ``most cynical, most murderous empire in all of history'' but insisted he had nothing personal against him.

``It's not Chavez against Bush or Bush against Chavez,'' the Venezuelan leader said late on Monday in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince at the close of a five-nation tour of Latin American and Caribbean nations.

``If this were personal, it would have been over a long time ago. But you all know this isn't personal,'' Mr. Chavez said. ``The President of the United States is the representative of the cruellest, most terrible, most cynical, most murderous empire that has existed in all of history.''

Mr. Chavez, speaking at a news conference with Haitian President Rene Preval and Cuban Vice-President Esteban Lazo, said Mr. Bush ``represents the imperial plan of domination and colonialism. We represent ... the Bolivarian plan for the liberation of our people.''

Mr. Preval, whose impoverished nation receives more aid from the U.S. than any other country, gave no comment or reaction to Mr. Chavez's remarks.

Mr. Chavez, who left Nicaragua earlier on Monday as crowds greeted Mr. Bush in Guatemala, arrived in Haiti to a rousing welcome by tens of thousands of cheering supporters who lined dusty streets and stood atop crumbling shanty dwellings. Many waved Venezuelan flags, while some chanted, ``Down with Bush, long live Chavez!''

During a stop at the Venezuelan embassy in Port-au-Prince, Mr. Chavez said the welcome to Haiti provoked ``indescribable feelings.''

``We should begin preparing for ourselves ... to strengthen the unity'' between the two countries, he said to Mr. Preval. ``This is a heroic people, the Haitian people. So heroic but so downtrodden.''

Mr. Chavez, who flew home later on Monday, also laid a wreath at a statue of Simon Bolivar, the South American independence hero and inspiration for his ``Bolivarian Revolution,'' in a park in front of the embassy.

The Leftist firebrand stopped earlier for a seven-hour visit in Jamaica, where he called for the Caribbean to support his Alternative for the Americas, a pact designed to counter Washington's proposed free trade deals.

``We've invited and keep inviting the nations of the Caribbean, in this case Jamaica,'' he said. ``Only truly united can we be free, sovereign, really independent.'' — AP

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