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Chavez says CIA is out to kill him

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez talks in an interview on Sunday in Caracas. Chavez indicated that his assassination continues to be the main strategy of his enemies. PHOTO: EPA

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government is redoubling efforts to detect assassination plots, calling US diplomat John Negroponte a "professional killer" and saying he believes enemies -- including the CIA -- are out to kill him.

Chavez said on Sunday that Venezuelan officials have intelligence that associates of jailed Cuban anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles are also involved in plotting to assassinate him.

He said the death plot idea has "gained weight" due to various factors, including the recent appointment of Negroponte, the former director of national intelligence, as deputy to US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice.

"Who did they swear in ... there at the White House as deputy secretary of state? A professional killer: John Negroponte," Chavez said.

Chavez's government has accused Negroponte of playing a key role in the Contra war against the leftist Sandinista government of Nicaragua when he served as US ambassador to Honduras -- a haven for clandestine Contra bases -- from 1981 to 1985.

US embassy officials could not immediately be reached for comment, but in the past US officials have denied Chavez's accusations that they are plotting to oust him.

Chavez's comments came during a televised interview on Sunday with his former vice president Jose Vicente Rangel, who has returned to his old job of hosting a talk show since he was replaced in January.

"They have assigned special units of the CIA, true assassins, who go around not only here in Venezuela, in Central America, in South America," Chavez said, without elaborating.

He added that while Posada Carriles, a former CIA operative, remains jailed in the US on immigration charges, "Posada Carriles' people are very active in Central America and searching for contacts in Venezuela ... They are going around searching for explosives in large quantities, thinking about a sort of car bombing or searching for ground-to-air missiles, thinking about the presidential plane."

Chavez's government has demanded that the US extradite Posada Carriles, a naturalized Venezuelan, to stand trial for allegedly masterminding the 1976 bombing of a Cuban airliner that killed 73 people. Posada Carriles denies involvement.

Chavez said he has ordered "an offensive" to uncover any assassination plots. Without elaborating, he added: "It's possible that surprises could soon occur."

Chavez said there have been multiple plots against his life in the past, recalling the 2004 capture of more than 100 alleged paramilitary fighters from Colombia on a Venezuelan ranch. A military court later sentenced three Venezuelan ex-military officers and 27 Colombians to prison terms ranging from two to nine years. Others were acquitted.

Chavez said officials suspect the right wing in Colombia, along with members of that country's intelligence agency and the Venezuelan military, still are plotting against him. But he added that he is confident there is no chance of a coup like the one he survived in 2002.

Addressing Venezuelans, Chavez called for public debate on how best to move toward socialism and said he is confident it would not suffer anything like the collapse of communism in the Soviet Union.
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