Venezuela Rejects U.S. Official's Remarks

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez greets supporters as he rides in an open car towards the Congress in Caracas, Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2007, where he was sworn in for a third term that runs until 2013. Chavez is about to assume unbridled powers to remake society by presidential decree as the National Assembly prepares to turn over lawmaking authority to him in a list of broadly defined areas. (AP Photo/Leslie Mazoch) (Leslie Mazoch - AP)

CARACAS, Venezuela -- The Venezuelan government rejected comments by a senior U.S. official who called President Hugo Chavez a threat to democracy, saying they revealed that Washington's overtures for rapprochement were insincere.

John Negroponte, a former director of national intelligence who is designated for the No. 2 position in the U.S. State Department, said Tuesday that Chavez poses a threat to democracies in Latin America.

"I do not think he has been a constructive force in the hemisphere," Negroponte, a veteran career diplomat who also served as the ambassador to Honduras and Mexico, testified at his Senate Foreign Relations Committee confirmation hearing.

U.S. officials have accused Chavez of becoming increasingly authoritarian and of being a destabilizing force in Latin America. The Venezuelan leader has repeatedly accused Washington of scheming against his left-leaning government.

The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry rejected Negroponte's comments in a statement late Tuesday.

"Mr. Negroponte represents a real threat to peace and democracy. Latin America has the worst memories of this subject when he was an instrument of genocidal and imperialist policies in Central America," it said.

The Ministry accused Negroponte of involvement in the Iran-Contra affair when, as the ambassador to Honduras between 1981-1985, he allegedly assisted the U.S.-backed Contra rebels in their attempt to overthrow Nicaragua's left-wing Sandinista government.

"It is not credible to anybody in the hemisphere that (the U.S. government) is considering a new policy for Latin America when it assigns subjects such as Mr. Negroponte," the statement read.

Negroponte had testified that Bolivia, among other countries, has come under the influence of Chavez as he attempts to export "his kind of radical populism. And I think that his behavior is threatening to democracies in the region."

He said that a "certain amount of populism" is evident in Latin America, a reflection of democracy's failure to deliver in ways that the people had expected, but that overall, the nations of the region are doing quite well.

Chavez most clearly symbolizes that populist trend, Negroponte said.

The Venezuelan leader's defenders say he has prevailed in numerous national elections, while his opponents say Venezuela is drifting toward authoritarianism under Chavez.