Venezuela has called for an investigation into comments by US Christian broadcaster Pat Robertson when he called for American agents to assassinate President Hugo Chavez.
Robertson's suggestion on Monday that the United States "take out" Chavez to stop Venezuela from becoming a "launching pad for communist influence and Muslim extremism" appeared likely to aggravate tensions between the United States and the world's fifth-largest oil exporting country.
Conservative evangelist Pat Robertson who remarked that the US should
Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel accused Robertson of inciting violence and challenged the US to take action against him in what he said would be a test of its anti-terrorist policy.
"It's a huge hypocrisy to maintain this discourse against terrorism and at the same time, in the heart of that country, there are entirely terrorist statements like those," Rangel said.
Rangel called Robertson "a man who seems to have quite a bit of influence in that country," adding that the comments "reveal that religious fundamentalism is one of the great problems facing humanity in these times."
Chavez, who was democratically elected, has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of the US president, accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him.
The United States is the biggest buyer of Venezuelan oil, but Chavez has made it clear he wants to decrease the country's dependence on the US market by finding other buyers.
On a visit to Cuba, Chavez said such comments did not matter to him and that he would prefer to "talk about life."
"I don't even know who that person is," said Chavez, standing next to Cuban leader Fidel Castro at Havana's airport.
US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack called Robertson's remarks "inappropriate."
"This is not the policy of the United States government. We do not share his views," McCormack said.
The United States was believed in the past to have been involved in the 1963 assassination of South Vietnam President Ngo Dinh Diem and in numerous attempts to assassinate Castro.
Robertson is a founder of the Christian Coalition of America and a supporter of George Bush, who was elected twice with the solid backing of Christian conservatives.
The 75-year-old religious broadcaster has made controversial statements in the past. In October 2003, he suggested that the State Department be blown up with a nuclear device. He has also said that feminism encourages women to "kill their children, practice witchcraft, destroy capitalism and become lesbians."
On Monday, Robertson said on the Christian Broadcast Network's "The 700 Club": "We have the ability to take him (Chavez) out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."
"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."
A spokeswoman for Robertson, Angell Watts, declined to elaborate on his statements Tuesday and said Robertson would not be available to comment.
Chavez has irritated US officials with his fiery rhetoric against American "imperialism" and his increasingly close ties to US enemies such as Cuba and Iran. He says he is leading Venezuela toward socialism and, in a visit to Cuba this week, praised Castro's system as a "revolutionary democracy."
Chavez left Cuba Tuesday afternoon for Jamaica to discuss Petrocaribe, a Venezuela initiative to supply petroleum to Caribbean countries under favorable terms.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and his Cuban counterpart Fidel Castro talk to the media at Havana's Jose Marti airport yesterday. REUTERS/Claudia Daut.
The Venezuelan president has offered to help impoverished US communities with their fuel needs, complaining that middle men have taken advantage of the American poor by pushing up the prices of gasoline and diesel unnecessarily high.
"We could also help some poor communities in the United States, directly selling them gasoline," Chavez said. He did not explain how the direct sales would work.
Although he is disliked in Washington, Venezuelans overwhelmingly supported Chavez in a failed recall effort by the opposition.
Venezuela has demanded in the past that the United States crack down on Cuban and Venezuelan "terrorists" in Florida who they say are plotting against Chavez with conspirators in Venezuela.