US: US civil rights activist Rev Jesse Jackson yesterday rejected US government claims that Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is a threat to regional stability and called on both governments to curb escalating rhetoric to resolve their differences.
Relations between Venezuela and the US, strained since left-win Mr Chavez first won office in 1998, have deteriorated in recent weeks after US defence secretary Donald Rumsfeld repeated accusations during a South American tour that Mr Chavez was fomenting regional instability.
Mr Jackson, who plans to meet Mr Chavez during a three-day visit to Venezuela, said the US charges were baseless. "There is no evidence that is stated and established that this government is in fact a source of instability," he told reporters.
A strong critic of President Bush's foreign policy, Mr Chavez has angered Washington by strengthening ties with Iran and Cuba. He presents his social reforms as a counterweight to US influence.
Mr Chavez frequently accuses the Bush administration of plotting to kill him and overthrow his "revolutionary" government to gain control of Venezuela's vast oil resources. US officials deny the charges but accuse Mr Chavez of using profits from high oil prices to fund anti-democratic groups.
Mr Jackson compared Mr Rumsfeld's comments to charges by the Bush administration that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein possessed weapons of mass destruction. He called on the US and Venezuela to work together on regional problems such as the fight against drug trafficking.