Hugo Chavez explains himself

The President-trying-to-be-dictator of Venezuela Hugo Chavez explained himself in a 4-hour speech to the national assembly this week. He chews coca every day. And not the raw stuff that peasants use to control hunger; it's coca paste, he says, which is semi-refined and considered highly addictive. Believe Hugo. Here are his words from the Miami Herald:

''I chew coca every day in the morning . . . and look how I am,'' he is seen saying on a video of the speech, as he shows his biceps to the audience. Chávez, who does not drink alcohol, added that just as Fidel Castro ''sends me Coppelia ice cream and a lot of other things that regularly reach me from Havana,'' Bolivian President Evo Morales ``sends me coca paste . . . I recommend it to you.''

Coca paste is illegal in Venezuela; the leaves are also. He says he consumes it every day. He considers himself to be above the law.

'If he is affirming that he consumes coca paste, he is admitting that he is consuming a substance that is illegal in Bolivia as well as Venezuela,'' said Hernán Maldonado, a Bolivian analyst living in Miami. ''Plus, it's an accusation that Evo Morales is a narco-trafficker'' for sending him the paste.