Jewish group demands apology from Chavez

CARACAS, Venezuela — The Simon Wiesenthal Center, a U.S. Jewish rights group, has accused Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez of making "anti-Semitic declarations" in a televised Christmas Eve speech.

According to a transcript, Chavez said "the world has enough for all, but it turned out that some minorities, descendants of those who crucified Christ, descendants of those who threw Bolivar out of here and also crucified him in their own way in Santa Marta, there in Colombia, a minority took the world's riches for themselves."

Chavez did not specifically mention Jews. Simon Bolivar led the 19th century fight to liberate Latin American nations from Spanish rule.

The Wiesenthal Center demanded an apology from Chavez, saying such remarks have long been used to persecute Jews. The president's office had no response.

The Wiesenthal Center wrote Chavez that "the two central arguments of anti-Semitism emerge" in his statement: "the accusation that Jews killed Jesus (and) associating them with wealth."