Chávez harshly criticizes the Inter-American Development Bank

Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez accused the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) of using "political pressure" and being a "mechanism" of the United States and urged his Latin American counterparts to abandon the hemispheric facility. His remarks came during the opening session of the meeting of the heads of State of the Bolivarian Alternative for the Americas (ALBA), which was also attended by Ecuadorian President Rafael Correa as a guest.

In reference to the United States, Chávez said that the IADB "has become also a mechanism of the empire," and regretted that it had been used as a "tool of political pressure to put conditions."

"Let us leave this bank and let us make a bank of our own, managed by ourselves, our peoples. Outrage is enough," said the president in the context of the ALBA Third Summit, an initiative of President Chávez.

Earlier during the session, the Venezuelan ruler reiterated his proposal to resort to socialism as an alternative to address the global financial crisis. Chávez described the current situation as the "crisis of the century" and "the sum of all crises."

"Some European leaders have called upon to reform capitalism. I consider that we have to bury capitalism. It is a perverse model that must rest in peace. We say here, and I speak for Venezuela, that this crisis will only be solved through socialism."

The Venezuelan president criticized the results of the G20 and G8 meetings to address the global crisis. "Can someone believe that Washington has any chance to provide solutions to the problem?" he wondered.