Venezuela's Chavez seeks more weapons

CARACAS, Venezuela, Feb. 5 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he wants to buy more weapons to defend his country from invasion from the United States.

At a rally of supporters in the capital Caracas, Chavez said 100,000 Kalashnikov assault rifles already on order from Russia were not enough, the BBC reported.

"I ask for permission ... to buy another cargo of arms because the gringos want us unarmed. We have to defend our fatherland," he said. "Venezuela needs to have 1 million well-equipped and well-armed men and women."

Chavez also likened U.S. President George Bush to the German Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler.

"The imperialist, genocidal, fascist attitude of the U.S. president has no limits," he said. "I think Hitler would be like a suckling baby next to George W. Bush."

Diplomatic relations between Venezuela and the U.S. worsened last week when each country expelled a diplomat after Caracas accused the U.S. embassy of spying.

U.S. officials have dismissed threats by Chavez as inflammatory rhetoric aimed at his core supporters, the BBC said.