US REJECTS DRUG ESPIONAGE CLAIM

THE United States has rejected charges by Venezuelan President Hugo
Chavez that US drug agents were spying on his country and accused
Caracas of flagging cooperation in the fight against narcotics
trafficking.

"The accusations that somehow the (US) Drug Enforcement Agency is
involved in espionage are baseless," said Deputy State Department
spokesman Adam Ereli. "There's no substance or justification for them."

Mr Ereli also described as "regrettable" Mr Chavez's announcement that
Venezuela was going to end cooperation with the DEA and said "failure
to cooperate only benefits narco-traffickers."

Mr Chavez, a frequent critic of the US government, said that "the DEA
has used the pretext of fighting drug trafficking ... to spy on
Venezuela's government."

His comments came after Washington stepped up its criticism of
Venezuela in recent weeks, accusing it of actively funding efforts to
destabilise its Latin American neighbors.

Mr Ereli said Mr Chavez's remarks were meant to deflect attention from
what he called "a steady deterioration in the government of
Venezuela's commitment" to fighting narcotics trafficking in recent
months.

"I think it's pretty clear to us that the motivation for this is not
the accusation itself or not what they state is the problem," the US
spokesman said.

"The motivation is an effort to detract from the government's
increasingly deficient record of cooperation."