Chavez accuses US of plotting coup

Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez accused today the US of trying to turn Venezuela’s military against him.

Chavez, a former army lieutenant colonel who survived a short-lived 2002 coup, said his domestic opponents are collaborating with the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) to spur another rebellion.

“The conspiracy has already begun,” he said on his weekly radio and television programme. “The messages are circulating in the barracks. The hand of the CIA, the empire, is behind this.

“They are trying for a coup.”

The Venezuelan leader did not elaborate or give evidence of the purported plot.

He has made similar accusations before, which both opposition leaders and US officials denied.

Last week, Chavez proposed a constitutional reform that would abolish limits on re-election and extend presidential terms from six to seven years.

But he denies opponents’ allegations that he wants to become a lifelong leader like his close ally Fidel Castro of Cuba.

US officials have not commented on the proposal, but Washington has repeatedly accused the former paratrooper commander of consolidating power and weakening Venezuela’s democracy.