The famous friends of Hugo Chavez
From Sean Penn to Don King, Hugo Chavez had an ecclectic circle of famous friends.
From Don King to Courtney Love, late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had quite the ecclectic circle of famous friends. Here's a look at some of them.
From Don King to Courtney Love, late Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez had quite the ecclectic circle of famous friends. Here's a look at some of them.
One of Chavez's most frequent celebrity visitors was Sean Penn. Here, Chavez, Cuba's President of the National Assembly Ricardo Alarcon (2nd L) and Penn (R) wear protective clothing as they visit an agricultural research laboratory near La Grita, Venezuela, on Aug. 3, 2007.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez welcomes actor Sean Penn at Miraflores Palace in Caracas on Feb. 16, 2012. Penn was visiting Chavez to talk about Haiti reconstruction plans.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) and actor Sean Penn (R) talk during a meeting at Miraflores Palace in Caracas on March 5, 2011.
Civil rights activist the Rev. Jesse Jackson (L) is decorated by Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez with the Liberator's Order prior to a news conference at Miraflores Palace in Caracas on Aug. 29, 2005. Jackson rejected U.S government claims that Chavez is a threat to regional stability and called on both governments to curb escalating rhetoric to resolve their differences.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (R) and actor Danny Glover wave to a crowd gathered at the Mount Olive Baptist Church in New York on Sept. 21, 2006
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (L) greets actor Benicio del Toro during a meeting in Miraflores Palace in Caracas on March 4, 2009. Del Toro attended the premiere of his latest film titled "Che."
Singer and activist Harry Belafonte poses with workers during a visit to a government-run development project in Caracas,Venezuela, on Jan. 6, 2006. Belafonte praised the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez for providing cheap home heating oil to poverty-stricken families in the U.S.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) and director Oliver Stone wave as they sit at the Sala Grande during the premiere of Stone's documentary on Chavez, "South Of The Border," at the 66th Venice Film Festival on Sept. 7, 2009.
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez (R) welcomes U.S. linguist and political commentator Noam Chomsky at Miraflores Palace in Caracas on Aug. 24, 2009.
British supermodel Naomi Campbell smiles next to Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at Miraflores Palace in Caracas on Oct. 31, 2007.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (L) speaks to actor Kevin Spacey during a meeting at the Miraflores Presidential Palace in Caracas on Sept. 24, 2007.
Here, then-President Elect Hugo Chavez drinks tea on Dec. 7, 1998, with former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who arrived in Venezuela several days earlier to lead a team of independent observers during the presidential elections. Chavez, a former paratrooper who led a failed coup attempt in 1992, won with more than 56 percent of the vote.
Boxing promoter Don King visited Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at his presidential palace in Caracas on Feb. 2, 2004.
Actress Susan Sarandon also chummed it up with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during the New York screening of Oliver Stone's Chavez documentary "South of the Border" on Sept. 23, 2009.
In perhaps one of the strangest celebrity friendships, singer Courtney Love was all kisses and smiles greeting Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at the New York premiere of "South of the Border." "It was the third wink that sold me," Love told the New York Daily News. "He's a sexy dawg. He invited me to visit his country and I'd like to go. I'll rock Caracas!"
