World | Hugo Chavez Chavez's Nuttiest Theories Remember how capitalism killed life on Mars? By John Johnson Posted Mar 5, 2013 7:19 PM CST Copied In this 2005 file photo, Venezuela's Hugo Chavez wears a Mexican sombrero as he sings a Mexican ranchera song at a rally in Caracas, Venezuela. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File) The Los Angeles Times rounds up some of the more memorable declarations of the late Hugo Chavez, including: Mars: He theorized in 2011 that the red planet once might have had life but that capitalism and "imperialism" arrived on the planet and killed it. Cancer plot: He once speculated that the US gave him and other Latin American leaders cancer, a conspiracy floated anew today by his vice president. Haiti quake: The US caused it with a super-secret weapon. Twitter: He once called Twitter a "tool of terrorism," before becoming an enthusiastic tweeter himself. Devil: At a speech to the UN in 2006, he called George W. Bush the devil, crossed himself, and said the lectern "still smells of sulfur." At a subsequent speech in 2009, he said President Obama had eliminated the sulfur scent. Click for more. Read These Next People have thoughts on Charlie Kirk and are getting fired for them. The new dividing line: Posts about Charlie Kirk Iowa county official refuses order to lower flags for Kirk. Charlie Kirk's widow has a message for the world. Report an error