Chavez accuses US-backed company of taping his calls

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused a US-financed private telephone company he intends to nationalize of taping his conversations.

"I've announced my intention to nationalize" Compania Anonima Telefonos de Venezuela (CANTV), Chavez said at the close of the two-day Mercosur summit, adding that in the past 20 years "it did not comply with its social contracts."

"Who runs it? United States finance and they've used the Venezuelan telephone company to tape my calls," said the leftist Chavez, who since becoming president eight years ago has consistently clashed with Washington.

"That's the empire, brother," he added.

Chavez in his Mercosur speech said the United States was throwing its imperialistic weight around the world "with blazing cannons and coups d'etat."

Washington sees Chavez as posing a threat to stability in Latin America and is wary of Chavez's march toward socialism, which since his reelection December 2 has gathered pace.

On January 8, Chavez proposed to Congress the "mother of all revolutionary laws" authorizing him to nationalize the power and telephone sectors, end foreign control of oil refineries and strip Venezuela's central bank of its autonomy.

The day after his announcement, CANTV shares immediately began shedding their value dropping by almost 40 percent in the New York Stock Exchange.