Chavez and allies take swipe at U.S.

By Lucas Bergman

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and two Latin American allies accused the United States on Tuesday of conspiring to undermine the region's leftist governments.

The charge followed a diplomatic firestorm set off by claims from a U.S. prosecutor that Venezuela attempted to smuggle $800,000 in a suitcase to the election campaign of Argentina's President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner.

Chavez, Fernandez and Bolivian President Evo Morales rebuked the United States in separate public comments at a meeting of the South American trade bloc Mercosur in Uruguay's capital Montevideo.

Chavez accused Washington of meddling in Bolivian politics and seeking to destabilize the Morales' leftist government, which faces calls for autonomy by several opposition-controlled provinces amid a dispute over constitutional reforms.

"I have to blame the empire. They are trying to sabotage a legitimate democratic process," Chavez said, referring to the United States. "We have to warn the empire that if they try to topple that legitimate government ... it will cause an earthquake that will shake the Americas."

Washington has repeatedly denied allegations it seeks to influence politics in Bolivia. Morales has also made similar charges, prompting President George W. Bush's administration to publicly tell Bolivia last month to "knock it off."

On Tuesday, Morales reiterated accusations that the U.S. ambassador in La Paz was involved in a conspiracy to damage his government. "It would be good if the United States would advise its ambassador to practice diplomacy, not politics," he said.

'DIRTY OPERATIONS'

Argentina's Fernandez, who took office on December 10, did not name the United States directly but suggested it was looking to influence the region through "dirty operations and dirty politics."

"Let's not be naive ... there are going to be many more 'interferences' like those we're experiencing now," she said.

It was the second public criticism of the U.S. government in less than a week by Fernandez, a center-left former senator and first lady who succeeded her husband, Nestor Kirchner.

The sparring began after U.S. prosecutors in Miami said a Venezuelan-American businessman who tried to enter Argentina with $800,000 in cash in August had been part of a Venezuelan plan to secretly funnel money to Fernandez's campaign.

Argentine customs agents seized the undeclared money and let the businessman carrying it, Guido Antonini Wilson, leave the country. Argentina later sought his extradition from the United States.

With Antonini's collaboration, U.S. authorities last week arrested four men accused of acting illegally as Venezuelan agents on charges they pressured Antonini to conceal Caracas' role in the scandal.

Argentina's foreign minister met with the U.S. ambassador in Buenos Aires late on Tuesday to express the country's "displeasure and annoyance" at Washington's attitude toward the case, a foreign ministry spokesman said.

Foreign Minister Jorge Taiana also asked that the United States extradite Antonini, as part of an Argentine judicial investigation into possible contraband and money laundering.

U.S. Ambassador Earl Anthony Wayne said in a statement he told Taiana "I would pass his message to Washington through official channels and (I) shared with him the U.S. perspective on these events. I also conveyed ... the belief that our bilateral relationship is important to both of our governments and peoples."

Former President Kirchner said in a fiery speech earlier on Tuesday: "The U.S. ambassador said relations with Argentina are good. But what they're doing in Miami is shameful ... so relations are not good. Argentina isn't a colony and you must respect us and the Argentine courts."

(Additional reporting by Damian Wroclavsky and Hilary Burke in Buenos Aires)

(Writing by Kevin Gray; Editing by David Storey)