- I have always said, heard, that it would not be strange that there had been civilization on Mars, but maybe capitalism arrived there, imperialism arrived and finished off the planet.
- Venezuelan President Huge Chavez • Speaking on Tuesday, on the occasion of World Water Day. In making this theoretical argument about the mighty Martian State’s fall at the hands of capitalism and imperialism, Chavez at the very least couches this rather presumptive notion by saying it “would not be strange” to see such civilization, and that “maybe” that’s what happened. This is more humility, or at least hedging, than some who make unfalsifiable claims are willing to show. That said, it seems desperate to make a political point by any reference conceivable, and for a man whose real world behavior is at times bizarre and at times willfully ignorant (that being the most charitable way to describe his denial of Gaddafi’s force against citizens), this pseudo-scientific claim bolsters the idea of Chavez the eccentric. source