QUITO, Nov 23: Ecuador's leftist presidential candidate Rafael Correa on Thursday defended his friendship with Venezuela's controversial leader, joking that US President George Bush was friendly with Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden’s family.

“(Venezuelan President Hugo) Chavez is my friend. What's the problem with that? Bush is friends with the Osama bin Laden family,” Correa said at a news conference three days before the presidential runoff election that pits him against conservative billionaire Alvaro Noboa.

“Everyone is free to chose his friends,” he said.

In the controversial documentary “Fahrenheit 9/11,” filmmaker Michael Moore alleged strong business connections between the Bush family and the family of Osama bin Laden.—AFP