CHAVEZ DENIES INTERVENTION IN LATIN NEIGHBOR'S AFFAIRS

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez on Thursday charged there
was a smear campaign underway, aided by foreign news media, to link him to
Colombia's violent leftist guerrillas and dissidents in the Andes.

Recent news reports in Colombia and the United States have accused Mr.
Chavez of having contacts with guerrillas in neighboring Colombia and
Bolivia, and supporting rebellious army officers in a recent coup in Ecuador.

In a three-hour news conference, Mr. Chavez charged the "Colombian
oligarchy," along with the news media, of trying to discredit his
"Bolivarian revolutionary movement," a pan-American leftist democratic
ideology that Mr. Chavez has styled after the ambitions of 19th century
South American liberator Simon Bolivar.

Mr. Chavez accused news outlets with "connections in Washington and Miami"
of demonizing him because he opposes the military component of the "Plan
Colombia," a Colombian initiative to eradicate drug crops protected and
taxed by the rebels.

Washington is slated to contribute $1.3 billion to the plan and
U.S.-trained troops using U.S.-made helicopters would try to wrest away
rebel-held areas producing cocaine and heroin.

Mr. Chavez, who favors a negotiated end to Colombia's 36-year-old civil
conflict, asserts the initiative will force rebels, refugees and drug
traffickers into neighboring countries.

His links to Colombian rebels -- including allowing their leaders to travel
and meet in Venezuela -- have upset Colombia, which recently recalled its
ambassador for several days to protest.

"Let the venomous Colombian oligarchy know that I won't back down," Mr.
Chavez responded.

The president singled out the Colombian magazine Semana, which reported
that a cache of Venezuelan arms was found recently in the hands of rebels
and that Venezuelan officers visit the guerrillas inside Colombia.

Mr. Chavez said that no Venezuelan weapons have gone to the rebels since he
took office in February 1999.

Mr. Chavez also denied a report by The Miami Herald that he met in August
with Bolivian rebel Felipe Quispe -- shortly before separatist violence
there -- and that he gave financial support to Ecuadorean military officers
who staged a coup in January.

Mr. Chavez said he had asked U.S. Ambassador Donna Hrinak to determine
whether comments attributed by the Herald to Mr. Peter Romero, the State
Department officer in charge of Latin America, represented official U.S.
policy.

Mr. Romero was quoted as saying there were "indications of Chavez's
government support for violent indigenous groups in Bolivia. In the case of
Ecuador, it included support for rebellious army officers."

Mr. Chavez called Romero an "international agitator" and said he hopes the
next administration in Washington "rectifies these things and doesn't have
agitators, professional liars ... as high officials."

Bolivian President Hugo Banzer recently approached Mr. Chavez to express
"his concern about Chavez's intrusion in the internal affairs of the
country," Bolivian Minister of the Presidency Walter Guiteras said.

Rebel leader Quispe denied any contact with or support from Mr. Chavez.

Former Ecuadorean Col. Lucio Gutierrez, who led the coup that helped topple
former President Jamil Mahuad in January, said he admired Mr. Chavez but
has never met with him or received financial support.