Even in his ultimate hours, Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi has had Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez as his ally and fan, who regretted the attacks of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the United States on Libya, intended to prop up insurgent military operations.

Because of the close relationship, in the middle of the rebel offensive on Tripoli, rumors circulated that Gaddafi could seek refuge in Venezuela in the event of the downfall of his 40-year-old revolutionary regime, DPA reported.

From the very beginning of the Libyan conflict, Chávez volunteered to join a diplomatic effort in order to find a peaceful solution for, in his words, a "civil war" in Libya; exchanged letters with Gaddafi in critical times, and pointed to slaughter of civilians in order to grasp their oil.

His admiration for Gaddafi was expressed quite a few times. The Venezuelan Head of State also followed suit with the Green Revolution heralded by the Libyan leader in order to feed the concepts of some laws related to the Venezuelan people's power.

Chávez's mediating proposal to organize a group of friends of Libya to finish the conflict was unsuccessful in the middle of clash escalation. Afterwards, the Venezuelan government opted to keep in low-profile contact.

Gaddafi's missions visited Caracas at least twice. However, their results did not publicly transcend before the rumors that the Libyan leader would seek shelter in Venezuela in the event of losing power.

Chávez stubbornly accused NATO and the United States of waging a war to grab the Libyan oil and he lamented that European banks had frozen the accounts of Libya's international reserves.

On Sunday, August 21, in the midst of the battle for Tripoli, the Venezuelan president lambasted again NATO shelling. However, he did not made reference to Gaddafi's potential asylum while the fight for the Libyan capital city escalated and looked final.

"European 'democratic' governments, not all of them, one knows who is who, are virtually demolishing Tripoli with their shelling and the allegedly US democratic government does it, because it feels like doing it," Chávez regretted.

He added that "with no explanation," bombs were falling down on houses, schools, hospitals and farms.

Powerful countries, the Venezuelan president noted, "are just producing a massacre."

"They shell, they say, to save civilians' lives. It is an excuse for meddling," he reasoned.

Venezuela and Libya, as partners within the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), set up a bloc to back oil prices after the agreements in 2000.

Gaddafi landed in Venezuela in September 2009, on the occasion of the Africa-South America Summit. At the end of the meeting at Margarita Island, he remained for an official visit. Then, Chávez awarded him a decoration and gave him a replica of the sword of Venezuelan Liberator Simón Bolívar.

At that time, Chávez and Gaddafi signed several agreements that tightened bilateral ties. In the meeting, both of them made an appeal to hold an international conference in order to define and determine the concept of terrorism and undertook to work in order to end with the US "imperialism."

As he awarded the replica of the sword, Chávez termed his visitor a "revolutionary soldier; a leader of the Libyan people; a leader of the peoples of Africa."

Attendants at the Margarita summit remembered that Gaddafi set up a Bedouin tent besides a luxurious hotel, according to his tradition.

Translated by Conchita Delgado