Costing $15 (about £10), and rivalled for price only by the very cheapest phones on sale in Asia, the Vergatorio's name has its origins in a venezuelan slang term for penis.Mr Chavez, who nationalised the company that has produced the phone, unveiled the product, only to be condemned for the choice of name.
He has described the Vergatorio, which has all the features of a more expensive phone such as WAP and an MP3 player, as "light, beautiful, good and cheap".
"It is science and technology at the service of the people not the elites ... the day will arrive when we manufacture phones for Cuba and Latin America," he said.
"This telephone will be the biggest seller not only in Venezuela but the world. Whoever doesn't have a Vergatario is nothing."
He even telephoned his mother during the launch ceremony.
But critics have described the choice of name given to the phone as vulgar and in bad taste.
I am sure that all perverts and heavy breathers will welcome Venezuela's piece of technological junk as their ideal means of mobile communication. After all, the name alone will be enough to get them all worked up!
