ALONSO WRITES OPEN LETTER TO PENN
Actress MARIA CONCHITA ALONSO has fuelled her dispute with SEAN PENN by w riting him an open letter condemning his public support for controversial Venezuelan President HUGO CHAVEZ.
Penn has voiced his admiration for Chavez on numerous occasions - the a ctor visited the politician in 2007 when he was writing an article about the leader, and caught up with him again in 2008.
In a 2007 interview following his first trip to the South American coun try, Penn said: "The first thing I’m going to say is that we know more li es about him in the United States than we know truth. If you want a sound bite from me about Chavez, then I would say that, for the moment, he’s mu ch more positive for Venezuela than he is negative." But Venezuelan native Alonso, who appeared alongside Penn in 1988’s Col ors, has challenged his political views in a new missive which she hopes will "set the record straight for you regarding the Chavez regime".
She writes, "Why do you validate a government that has converted Venezu ela into the second most dangerous country in the world, where impunity i s above 90 per cent and its people live in a constant state of stress and fear of getting killed? "My intention isn’t to convince you, but to let you know what is truly happening in this beautiful country of noble people, Venezuela. I would e ncourage you to investigate in depth the ‘inside story’ and realize for y ourself the dark side behind the person you choose to idolize.
"Agreed, Chavez did win his first elections, but like Hitler, he betray ed what the country gave him: The vote of confidence."
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