US says has "innoculation" strategy to curb Chavez
(AP)
Updated: 2006-02-17 10:52

Washington wants to curb Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez's anti-American influence by lobbying allies to try to expose any anti-democratic policies, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said on Thursday.

The United States has tried different strategies to counter Chavez, ranging from confronting him to ducking a fight.

In what she termed an "inoculation" strategy, Rice said she had sought support from Europe and other Latin American nations to highlight US charges that the populist Chavez abuses his power to target political opponents and business leaders.

"The international community has just got to be much more active in supporting and defending the Venezuelan people," Rice told a congressional hearing.

She said she had urged governments to go public with criticism of a treason trial against leaders of a movement, Sumate, that failed to oust Chavez in a recall referendum. "This kangaroo trial of Sumate is a disgrace," she said.

And she urged labor movements to back striking workers.

Flush with revenues from high-priced oil exports, Chavez has thrived, is popular in Latin America and has come to symbolize much of the anti-American sentiment in a region that has increasingly opposed US economic policies.

That regional popularity has undercut Rice's efforts to use neighboring nations to curb Chavez, who has used strengthened ties with leftist governments to reject America's free trade ambitions for the hemisphere.

His outspoken criticism of the Bush administration has also angered some US lawmakers.

Rep. Dan Burton, an Indiana Republican, and influential player on US policy toward Latin America, said Chavez may give US$50 million to the Palestinian group Hamas, which the United States considers a terrorist organization.

Such a move would further strain deteriorating ties between the United States and one of its top oil suppliers after the countries each expelled diplomats this year in a dispute over alleged US espionage.

Venezuelan officials were not immediately available to comment on Rice's remarks or the lawmaker's accusation.

Chavez has said the United States wants to put sanctions on Venezuela for being a state sponsor of terrorism.