U.S. More Intent on Blocking Chavez

Rice said U.S. officials were trying to build international pressure to address what they see as Venezuelan abuses of democratic institutions at home. This year, she called European Union officials to draw their attention to the trial of a Venezuelan opposition group, Sumate, whose leaders face treason charges for accepting a $31,000 grant from the Washington-based National Endowment for Democracy, a private group funded by Congress.

"This kangaroo trial is a disgrace," she said. The EU, a key trading partner of Venezuela, signaled its concern by sending observers to the trial, she noted.

Chavez reacted strongly to Rice's criticism, saying it amounted to plans for an "imperialist attack" that he would resist.

Some State Department officials continue to emphasize that they do not want to be confrontational. Assistant Secretary of State Thomas A. Shannon, the top U.S. diplomat for Latin America, has said he is not looking for a quarrel with Chavez.

"We don't want to exaggerate his role or presence in the region," Shannon said in an interview. "We want to stay focused on a positive agenda for the region."

Military and intelligence officials have been more blunt.

Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld last month likened Chavez to Hitler, noting that both leaders were elected legally. At the same time, Director of National Intelligence John D. Negroponte, appearing before the Senate last week, said Chavez was spending "very extravagantly" to build alliances and seeking to strengthen ties with Iran, North Korea and Cuba.

Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said this week in Caracas, the capital, that the recent tough talk by U.S. officials "represents a victory of the hawks in U.S. foreign policy," the official Cuban News Agency reported.

Whether the United States' tough talk will resonate among Latin American leaders is uncertain. Thus far, only Mexico, not an immediate neighbor of Venezuela, has persisted in criticizing Chavez. Mexican President Vicente Fox, who is in the final nine months of his presidential term and hails from a conservative party strongly committed to free trade, exchanged angry words with Chavez late last year over Mexico's U.S. ties.

In the widening spat, the Bush administration might be able to enlist countries that are heavily dependent on the U.S., or badly want the benefits of better ties with the north, one senior Latin American diplomat said.

But others, "even the ones who don't like Chavez, don't want to be out front," said the envoy, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject. "They don't want trouble."

Times staff writer Chris Kraul in Los Angeles contributed to this report.