Hollywood Leftist Sean Penn Praises Hugo Chavez at Candlelight Vigil: 'He's One of the Most Important Forces We've Had

(Photo: AP)

Hollywood leftist Sean Penn's support of the belligerent socialist leader of Venezuela is well-known.

Around this time last December a Venezuelan-raised actress called him out as a "communist a**hole" at an airport for his stance, but Penn has steadfastly supported the man who called President Bush "the devil" at the United Nations headquarters in 2006 and accused the United States of giving him cancer.

Saying journalists who refer to Chavez as a "dictator" should be jailed (which should tell you a little something about how he understands freedom), Penn claimed in 2010: “Who do you know here who's gone through 14 of the most transparent elections on the globe and has been elected democratically, as Hugo Chavez?"

With Chavez's recent cancer relapse, Penn held back emotion while speaking of the ailing statist at a candlelight vigil in Bolovia on Monday:

[Hugo Chavez] is one of the most important forces we have had on this planet, and I [wish] him nothing but that great strength he has shown over and over again.

I do it in love, and I do it in gratitude.  So I just want to say that from my very American point of view of my friend Hugo Chavez, it is only possible to be so inspiring as he is as a two-way street...and he would say that his inspiration is the people.

Watch the entire video, in which Penn takes the liberty of explaining things from an "American" point of view, below:

(H/T: Hollywood Reporter)

--

Related:

• Hugo Chavez Says His Cancer Is Back and He's Headed to Cuba for More Surgery -- And Names His Desired Successor Just in Case
• So What Do We Know About Hugo Chavez's Appointed Successor?  Here's an Overview...
• Hugo Chavez: 'If I Were American, I'd Vote for Obama'