Chavez attacks US plan for Americas

THE US yesterday called for new ways to support “fragile” democracies in the Western Hemisphere but was immediately accused by Venezuela’s Hugo Chavez of seeking to impose a “global dictatorship.”

The US hopes to use a three-day meeting of the 34-member Organisation of American States (OAS) under way in Florida to advance its idea of allowing private groups to help monitor democracy by raising concerns with the OAS.

"When you look at some of the fragile democracies that there are, it's very clear that the institution needs to be better capable of dealing with them," US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said yesterday.