VENEZUELAN President Hugo Chavez has threatened to suspend oil exports to the US if someone tries to assassinate him, saying US President George W. Bush would be to blame.
"If they kill me, there will be a really guilty party on this planet whose name is the president of the United States, George Bush," Mr Chavez said on his weekly radio program, Hello, Mr President.
"If these perverse plans succeed, by the devil’s hand … forget about oil, Mr Bush."
Mr Chavez said he was convinced that Washington had been "sketching out the assassination plans".
Mr Chavez revealed a week ago that Cuban President Fidel Castro had warned him of a US assassination plot.
"Now, I am going to say it. Neither Fidel Castro nor I talk nonsense.
"If something happens to me, I blame the president of the United States," he said.
"I will not hide. I am going to be in the streets with you. I entrust myself to God, but I know that I have been condemned to die.
"Each second of my life I will spend in the struggle and God’s will be done."
President Castro said on February 12: "If Chavez is assassinated, the blame will fall on Bush.
"I say that as someone who has survived hundreds of the empire’s (assassination) plans."
Mr Chavez has also recently accused the United States of being involved in an April 2002 coup, which removed him from power for less than two days.
Washington has accused him of being undemocratic especially when it comes to the Venezuelan opposition, and has more recently criticised arms purchases from Russia and Brazil.
Venezuela is the only Latin American member of the Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, and sells about 1.5 million barrels daily to the United States, nearly as much as Saudi Arabia.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently called Mr Chavez "a negative force" in Latin America.
The State Department backed Colombia in a recent dispute between the Caribbean neighbours over the arrest of a Colombian rebel in Caracas by Colombian officials without Venezuela’s knowledge or consent.
Comments
Welcome to the new Resillience commenting system!
We have moved from the former Disqus commenting system to a new system as of September 10, 2026.
We made this change because of privacy concerns regarding Disqus. It's also part of a set of changes to bring more services to the Resilience community under a single login: commenting, (coming September 2026), and online courses (coming 2027). Unfortunately, your old Disqus comments may not reliably link to your account in this new system. Please contact us if you have any questions or concerns.