CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) – American singer and activist Harry Belafonte called US President George W Bush “the greatest terrorist in the world” yesterday and said millions of Americans support the socialist revolution of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez.

Belafonte led a delegation of Americans, including actor Danny Glover, Princeton University scholar Cornel West and farmworker advocate Dolores Huerta that met the Venezuelan president for more than six hours late Saturday. Some in the group attended Chavez’s television and radio broadcast yesterday.

“No matter what the greatest tyrant in the world, the greatest terrorist in the world, George W Bush says, we’re here to tell you: Not hundreds, not thousands, but millions of the American people … support your revolution,” Belafonte told Chavez during the broadcast.

“We respect you, admire you, and we are expressing our full solidarity with the Venezuelan people and your revolution,” he added.

The 78-year-old Belafonte, famous for his calypso-inspired music, including the Day-O song, was a close collaborator of the Rev Martin Luther King Jr and is now a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. He also has been outspoken in criticising the US embargo of communist Cuba.

Attending the live Hello President programme under a canopy at a farming co-operative southwest of Caracas, Belafonte said he had come to learn about Chavez’s “Bolivarian Revolution”, which includes a wide range of social programmes for the poor and is named after South

American independence hero Simon Bolivar.

He accused US news media of falsely painting Chavez as a “dictator”, when in fact, he said, there is democracy and citizens are “optimistic about their future”.

The Americans toured a prison, spoke with people in the street and heard praise as well as criticism, Belafonte said. To be able to criticise, he said, “is the greatest truth of a democracy”.

Huerta, a pioneer of the United Farm Workers labour union, called the visit a “very deep experience”.

Glover and West, who both have expressed admiration for Chavez’s ideals, finished their visit after meeting him on Saturday and did not attend the TV programme, officials said.

Belafonte suggested setting up a youth exchange for Venezuelans and Americans to learn from each other. He finished by shouting in Spanish: “Viva la revolucion!”

He and Chavez embraced at the end of the show as Belafonte’s song Matilda blared over the speakers.

Chavez accuses Bush of trying to overthrow him, pointing to intelligence documents released by the US indicating that the CIA knew beforehand that dissident officers planned a short-lived 2002 coup. The US denies involvement, but Chavez says Venezuela must be on guard.

“We have to defeat imperialism to save ourselves – and not only ourselves, to save the world,” said Chavez, calling Bush “Mr Danger”.

He said if the US were to imprison Venezuela’s ambassador for some reason, friends like Belafonte “would take care of freeing him with our support”.

Chavez called Belafonte “my brother”.

Sprinklers nearby watered crops – eggplant, onions, cilantro and peppers – on the co-operative set up on lands handed over by a friendly businessman amid a nationwide land reform.

As usual, Chavez’s show was eclectic, as he took calls, hugged children and laughed heartily over an astrologist’s prediction that the divorced leader would find an “intense romance” this year.