Venezuela's highest Catholic prelate has called President Hugo Chavez a dictator and urged Venezuelans to refuse to recognize him as the nation's leader.
"I am convinced that what we have here is a dictatorship," Cardinal Rosalio Castillo said in an interview.
The cardinal's comments are likely to further strain relations with Chavez, who has described the church as a "tumor."
Castillo said the people of his nation should refuse to recognize the left-wing president because he was not ruling democratically, citing an article in Venezuela's constitution stipulating that citizens could reject a leader if he violated democratic principles or human rights.
Chavez responded to Castillo's remarks by calling the cardinal an "immoral bandit and coup-mongerer."
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