NEW YORK — Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez came to New York this week without a prepared speech but with a firm conviction he would address the United Nations without reservations or omissions.

The word he chose to describe President Bush — "the devil" — stirred controversy and some sharp reactions, but Chavez said Thursday that he stood by that term.

"Sometimes the devil takes the form of people," Chavez told hundreds of supporters in a church in Harlem. He called the war in Iraq criminal and said Bush is a "sick man."

It was classic Chavez: frank, uncensored and irreverent. Some observers, such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson, suggested Chavez and the Bush administration both ought to calm their rhetoric and avoid name-calling.

But Chavez accused the U.S. of keeping his doctors and his security chief from coming to New York by not granting them visas.

"They're attempts to persuade me not to come, because some people would like for me not to come, but I come. I come to say what I think must be said," Chavez said.

The Venezuelan has said he did not prepare a script for his speech to the U.N. General Assembly on Wednesday, but rather went in with ideas and spoke spontaneously, as is his custom.

Chavez described himself Thursday as a friend of the American people, and announced Venezuela would boost sales of discounted heating oil to poor Americans. But, he insisted, "we're enemies of imperialism" — his shorthand for the Bush administration.

He urged Americans to conserve energy and recited the words of American thinkers from Mark Twain to Abraham Lincoln.

Taking a question from a Mexican reporter Wednesday, Chavez mused he would have liked to be a fighter with the revolutionary Pancho Villa nearly a century ago when he led his men in a raid into U.S. territory.

"They invaded the United States," Chavez said. "The only one who has dared to invade the United States was Pancho Villa."

In his speech Thursday, Chavez repeated his warning that his country would halt oil shipments if the U.S. tries to oust him. He added that he would like to see a U.S. president "who you could talk with."

Insults have flown between Caracas and Washington since 2002, when the U.S. swiftly recognized leaders who briefly ousted Chavez, only to have their coup cut short when Chavez returned to power, strengthened by huge street protests.