President Hugo Chavez of Venezuela holds up a book by Noam Chomsky as he addresses the 61st session of the United Nations General Assembly at the U.N. headquarters in New York yesterday. - Reuters

UNITED NATIONS, (Reuters):

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called United States President George W. Bush "the devil himself" and told the United Nations General Assembly yesterday that the UN had become worthless.

"The devil himself is right in the house. And the devil came here yesterday. Right here," said Chavez, a leftist ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro who also called Bush a "world dictator."

"The hegemonistic pretensions of the American empire are placing at risk the very existence of the human species," Chavez told the assembly.

Scent of sulphur

Speaking from the same podium where Bush had addressed the assembly the day before, Chavez said "It smells of sulphur still today, this table that I am now standing in front of."

He also said the domination of the UN Security Council by world powers had rendered the body worthless.

"I don't think anybody in this room could defend the system. Let's be honest. The U.N. system born after the Second World War collapsed. It's worthless," Chavez said.

The Chavez speech was "not worthy of reaction," said Frederick Jones, spokesman for the White House National Security Council.