MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Chomsky would like to meet President Chavez

A book by left-wing US author Noam Chomsky has reached a bestsellers' list after Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez praised it at the United Nations General Assembly last week. Chomsky said he would like to meet the Venezuelan leader.

In his speech Chavez cited Chomsky's 2003 critique of US policy, "Hegemony or Survival: America's Quest for Global Dominance", which he described as an "excellent book". During his controversial address from the UN podium the Venezuelan leader also said President George W Bush was the "devil", a "liar" and a "tyrant".

The 77-year-old linguistics professor told the New York Times newspaper that he would be "happy to meet" Mr Chavez. Chomsky's book spent the weekend at the top of Amazon.com's bestseller list.

He admitted to be "quite interested" in Mr Chavez's policies and regards many of his views as "quite constructive".

Mr Chavez urged his audience at the UN General Assembly to read Chomsky's book, saying it would help explain "what has been happening in the world throughout the 20th Century... and the greatest threat looming over our planet".

Holding up a Spanish-language edition of the book, Mr Chavez said "the hegemonic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very survival of the human species".

In related news United Nations announced it will investigate the detention of Venezuelan Foreign Affairs minister Nicolas Maduro when he tried to leave New York following his participation in the UN General Assembly. Maduro says he was mistreated by JKF airport authorities and has refused to accept US State Department apologies.

Maduro told Venezuelan television that he was detained for an hour and 40 minutes, and had his passport and plane ticket temporarily taken away. He said he was verbally abused, threatened with being strip-searched, and that authorities at one point ordered him and other officials to spread their arms and legs and be frisked. Screeners at John F Kennedy International Airport are said to have grown suspicious when Mr Maduro used cash to purchase a one-way ticket to Miami shortly before the flight was due to leave on Saturday.

Stephane Dujarric, a spokesman for UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, said legal expert Nicolas Michel had been asked to gather the facts about the incident after Venezuela lodged a complaint.

"We are trying to work with both the Americans and the Venezuelans to get past this unfortunate incident as quickly possible," Mr Dujarric told a media briefing. "I don't think anybody wants to escalate this."

The US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, said the incident was "Venezuelan street theatre". "There was no incident at the airport. This was Venezuelan street theatre," he told reporters. "Maduro did not request the courtesies we would have extended to get him through the airport".