Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has charged that he eluded a US intelligence plot to kill him, in a move likely to pile new pressure on already uneasy ties with the United States.Chavez, appearing on state media Tuesday for the first time since walking out in the middle of his own television marathon days earlier, claimed he ducked an assassination plot in El Salvador where he was to have attended the swearing in of its new president. "The information was very specific. It was all ready to take place, they were going to carry out an attack against me on arrival in San Salvador," Chavez charged.
He insisted the alleged plan aimed to launch "one or several missiles at the Cubana jet that was readied for the trip" in Caracas. Chavez, the closest regional ally of communist Cuba, said he received information on the plot from Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega. He did not immediately elaborate. But he claimed "Venezuelan coup plotters went to San Salvador two weeks ago. I know them. They are the ones who have sworn they would kill me."
CIA: Chavez did not accuse US President Barack Obama personally, saying US intelligence activities operate outside the president's authority. "I am not accusing Obama. I think the American president has good intentions," Chavez said. "But over and above Obama, there is the CIA, and all of its tentacles. I have no doubt US intelligence services are behind this." Referring to a Venezuelan fugitive, Chavez claimed "Luis Posada Carriles' people" also were behind the alleged plot and urged Obama to extradite him.