Sean Penn Hears Chavez Attack 'Pig' Rival

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez has been tearing into a rival candidate in the country's leadership elections, branding him a "low-life pig".

In a speech to an audience which included Mr Chavez's friend Sean Penn, the president referred to Henrique Capriles as "the loser".

"We're going to pulverise you in the October 7 election," the socialist leader said before the insults took an even more personal tone.

"It doesn't matter how many times you change your costume, low-life - your pig's tail still shows behind you as well as your pig's ears.

"You snore like a pig - well, what am I saying, you are a pig! Don't try and hide it."

Hollywood star Penn - in Venezuela to speak to Mr Chavez about Haiti aid, a cause close to the star's heart - also spoke at the ceremony for graduating medical students.

He recounted how he once told Cuban leader Fidel Castro that a photo of his children with the leader could see the A-lister teased in the US about bringing them up as socialist revolutionaries.

Penn said: "He said, 'Ah, but this is the second-best thing you can do. The first is to raise them into the white coats of doctors'."

Mr Capriles, the 39-year-old centre-left governor of Miranda state who comes from a wealthy family, has faced a barrage of verbal attacks since his landslide win in the opposition primary last weekend.

Supporters of Mr Chavez have questioned his rival's sexuality, branded him a Washington puppet and described his Jewish roots as a menace, while paradoxically circulating a cartoon which depicts him wearing a swastika.

But Mr Capriles has refused to get drawn into a mud-slinging contest and his speeches have been focused on issues such as crime and the economy.

Mr Chavez, a former soldier raised in a rural shack, has enjoyed an edge in the polls over Mr Capriles, who is seen as the strongest candidate the opposition has produced in the president's 13-year rule.