Gaddafi is in dire need of help from his old comrade Hugo Chávez

Muammar Gaddafi and Hugo Chávez are old comrades in the struggle against imperialism and American hegemony. But the Libyan leader has probably never before been in such dire need of solidarity and help from his Venezuelan friend.

It is thousands of miles from Tripoli to Caracas, but the two have forged a relationship that includes revolutionary political views, a shared reputation for eccentricity, membership of the oil-producing cartel Opec, exchanges of extravagant gifts – and a near-unlimited capacity for generating controversy at home and abroad.

Though not even the wildest critic of Chávez would put him in the same category as Gaddafi, their enemies insist that both men are dictators. Chávez's proposal to mediate in the crisis rocking Gaddafi's Jamahiriyah (state of the masses) remains vague and has met a frosty response from the Libyan rebels. But it was the first sign of a diplomatic exit from the impasse.

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