17 March, 2006 - Published 22:28 GMT

US brands Chavez a "demagogue"

The United States has branded Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a demagogue aiming to destabilise the region.

This comes in the latest US National Strategy Report which nods to previous high-level foreign policy statements, which singled out individual countries as potential enemies of the US, by highlighting seven "despotic" states.

The list also includes Cuba and Colombia along with North Korea, Iran, Syria, Belarus, Burma and Zimbabwe as trouble spots that could threaten US interest.

End tyranny

The policy of the US, according to the opening words of the 49-page document, is "to seek and support democratic movements and institutions in every nation and culture, with the ultimate goal of ending tyranny in our world".

These motives underpin US policy towards the continuing stand-off over Iran's nuclear programme, the document says.

But it stresses that continuing diplomatic efforts must succeed if confrontation is to be avoided, vowing to take "all necessary measures" to protect US interests.

Label of destabilisation

Some experts question the label of destabilisation as it comes in the context of the US suggesting that it will not shy away from attacking regimes it considers hostile.

Speaking to the BBC Caribbean Service Peter Hakim of the US think tank Americas Watch stated that “neither Cuba nor Venezuela should rise up to the level of the rest of that list. There is no proportion”, he said.