Venezuela President Hugo Chavez wants to change what Angel Falls is called.
Angel Falls bedevils Chavez, who wants name changed
AFP/File – The Angel Falls near the village of Canaima, southeastern Venezuela. The Angel falls were discovered … CARACAS (AFP) – The world's tallest waterfall -- Angel Falls in southern Venezuela -- should be stripped of the name by which it is widely known in favor of its indigenous one, President Hugo Chavez said.
The falls, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, were spotted by US pilot Jimmy Angel in 1937, bringing international attention to what has become one of Venezuela's top tourist attractions, though it is in remote Bolivar state.
"How could we accept this idea that the falls were discovered by a guy who came from the United States in a plane. If we do that, that would be like accepting that nobody was living here," Chavez mused on his weekly radio and television show, "Hello Mr President."
"Nobody should speak of Angel Falls any more," Chavez said. "That is ours, and was a long time before Angel ever got there."
In indigenous Pemon, the falls are called Kerepakupai meru, meaning "waterfall of the deepest place."
Chavez is a fan of name changes.
After he came to power in 1999, the firebrand leftist leader changed his own country's name, from just plain Venezuela to the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. That move was to pay homage to independence fighter Simon Bolivar.
He then renamed a mountain in Caracas -- previously known as Cerro Avila -- with its indigenous name, Guaraira Repano.
No comments:
Post a Comment