Conservative evangelist Pat Robertson called for the assassination of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, but top US officials denied that any such act was being contemplated.
The founder of the Christian Coalition said during last night's television broadcast of his religious program, "The 700 Club," that Mr Chavez, one the most vocal critics of President George W. Bush, was a "terrific danger" to the United States and wanted his country to become "the launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism".
"We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability," said Mr Robertson, who ran for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 1988.
US evangelist Pat Robertson
"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.
"It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."
Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld dismissed Mr Robertson's remarks. "Certainly it's against the law. Our department doesn't do that type of thing," he said.
Both he and State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said the remarks were from a private citizen and did not represent the US government position.
In Caracas, Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said: "This is a huge hypocrisy to maintain an anti-terrorist line and at the same time have such terrorist statements as these made by Christian preacher Pat Robertson coming from the same country."
Mr Chavez has often accused the United States of plotting his overthrow or assassination. Alongside his ally Cuban leader Fidel Castro in Havana on Sunday, Mr Chavez scoffed at the idea that he and Mr Castro were destabilizing troublemakers in Latin America.
Venezuela is the world's fifth largest oil exporter and a major supplier to the United States.