MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuela: Chavez to arm reserves

President Hugo Chavez says he will continue his country's arms build-up as well as tit-for-tat expulsions of diplomats, taking his relations with Washington to their lowest ebb since he was first elected just over seven years ago.

Speaking at a rally this weekend, Mr Chavez urged his supporters to launch a "counter-attack against US imperialism. This is our real enemy".

He said Venezuela needed "a million well equipped and well armed men and women", and that his government would seek to obtain arms from countries "where the US can do nothing to impede our right to acquire the minimum equipment we need to defend ourselves".

The US last month blocked the sale of military transport aircraft and patrol boats from Spain on the grounds that these contained US-manufactured parts. The decision to throw out a US naval attaché on spying charges triggered the removal of a Venezuelan diplomat from the US.

Both moves followed fierce criticism of Mr Chavez by US officials. On Thursday John Negroponte, director of national intelligence, accused him of meddling in the affairs of his neighbours, while Donald Rumsfeld, defence secretary, casually compared the Venezuelan president to Adolf Hitler. This drew a response from Mr Chávez on Saturday that "Hitler could be a nursery baby next to George W. Bush''.

The US had seemed to be eschewing such rhetorical attacks on the grounds that it reaffirmed Mr Chávez's nationalist credentials. Since Thomas Shannon was given the job of assistant secretary for western hemisphere at the State Department, policy has been steadier than it was under Roger Noriega, the previous incumbent.

Only last week Mr Shannon told El País, the Madrid daily, that Mr Chávez's influence in the region was exaggerated and that confrontation with the US was entirely the choice of the Venezuelan leader.

However, according to conservative analysts, Mr Shannon and other policymakers have also given a harder and more consistent edge to US policy in the region. The quick action to veto the Spanish arms deal was one result. In addition to the appointment of Mr Negroponte and of Porter Goss at the CIA, intelligence operations are being revamped in a region neglected since the end of the cold war.

"The aim is to build a coalition against Chávez and convince people in Latin America that Chávez is a danger to them," said one conservative who served in the administration of President Ronald Reagan during the early 1980s.

Mr Chávez has his own reasons for ratcheting up tensions. As his ally Fidel Castro has frequently found in Cuba, anti-gringo nationalist fervour can help divert attention from domestic economic problems. Under Mr Chávez, Venezuela's economy has been growing and resources from growing oil revenues have been injected into popular social programmes.

However, unemployment is stubbornly high and Mr Chávez has faced criticism over the poor state of Venezuelan infrastructure.

Whatever the reasons, there seems little doubt that the Venezuelan leader appears to be embarked on a strategy that entails some serious risks. Mr Chávez is moving from "rhetorical to real confrontation with the US," said Alberto Garrido, a Caracas-based political analyst. "Venezuela is walking through a minefield."