detailing the concerns of the Holy See regarding the condition of the Church in Venezuela. Among the issues most important to the Pope were: the freedom of the Holy See to nominate new bishops, the preservation of a distinctive Catholic identity at the Church-run University of Santa Rosa in Lima, the elimination of religious education from the school curriculum, the introduction of public-health programs that undermined the right to life, and the need for independence in the Catholic media. Chavez did offer his assurances that his government would work to ease the tensions that had characterized his relations with the Venezuelan bishops. Among his critics at home was Cardinal Rosalio Castillo Lara, the most outspoken prelate, referring to Chávez as a "paranoid dictator" who had crushed democracy in Venezuela. In the battle of words that followed, the President, in turn, referred to the critical bishops as "devils" and made a charge against the Catholic hierarchy that the latter were plotting against his government. In a more terse shift Chávez hit out at the Pope during the latter's trip to Brazil, where he said the Roman Catholic Church had purified the American Indians. This was the first direct confrontation with the head of the church, accusing the Pontiff of ignoring the "holocaust" that followed Christopher Columbus's 1492 landing in the Americas. His exact words were, "With all due respect your Holiness, apologize because there was a real genocide here and, if we were to deny it, we would be denying our very selves." Furthermore, Chávez's words came only days after the Venezuelan media interpreted other comments from the Pope as singling out Chávez as a danger to Latin America when he warned of autocrats in the region. Relations with Asian and Middle Eastern nations China When Hugo Chávez came to power, trade with China had peaked under $200mn but since then it jumped to nearly $10bn. Chinese officials say that Venezuela has now become the biggest recipient of its investments in Latin America. Venezuela also embarked on a programme of cultural and scientific exchange with China. In 2008 the governments of Venezuela and the People's Republic of China launched their first joint space satellite, named Venesat-1. Venezuela's leader Hugo Chávez said the satellite would be a tool of integration for Latin America and the Caribbean regions by saying "This satellite is not for us but for the people of Latin America