Chávez was responding to President Obama’s recent quip about diverting Air Force One in order to pay Caracas a visit. Leaving a NATO summit in Portugal, the president joked, according to a tweet by CBS reporter Mark Knoller, about having “AF-1 fly home via South America so he could visit Hugo Chavez.”

“Well, Obama, if you said that,” Chávez remarked, “we’ll receive you here. I’d shake your hand again.”

The Venezuelan leader, who has abolished term limits and shut down independent media outlets, praised Obama for his charisma and invited the American leader to come to Venezuela.