Venezuela denies backing rebels in Ecuador and Bolivia

CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) -- Venezuela on Wednesday dismissed U.S. concern over reports that President Hugo Chavez had given support to violent rebels in Ecuador and Bolivia.

"It is completely false," Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel told Reuters by telephone.

Chavez, a left-leaning populist who has irked Washington with his anti-American rhetoric, said the accusations were part of an international campaign to weaken his leadership.

The U.S. government said it was looking into reports that Venezuela's left-leaning government had supported violent groups in the two Andean nations.

"There have been reports in various ways on Venezuelan support for violent indigenous movements in Bolivia, for military officers involved in last January's attempted coup in Ecuador," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.

"These are situations that we do look into and we watch carefully," he said, adding that the issues were best dealt with bilaterally between the countries involved.

The Miami Herald newspaper on Tuesday quoted U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Peter Romero as saying there was evidence that Chavez backed Felipe Quispe, an indigenous leader who led protests in Bolivia that left 10 dead.

Romero also criticized the Chavez government for supporting Lucio Gutierrez, a former Ecuadorean colonel who led a coup attempt in January that led to Vice President Gustavo Noboa becoming president.

"He is a Pinocchio and his nose will keep growing," Rangel said in a statement. "We don't even know who Quispe is."

Venezuela recently annoyed neighboring Colombia by inviting members of the Marxist FARC guerrilla movement to address a Latin American parliamentary conference in Caracas.

Bogota recalled its ambassador for consultations over the incident, a move that Venezuela copied a few days later.

Chavez, a former paratrooper and coup plotter, was elected two years ago with massive popular support for his program to wipe out corruption in the oil producing country, a key supplier to the United States.

Since taking office, the left-leaning leader has annoyed the United States by forging close ties with Communist Cuba and visiting Iraq and Libya to strengthen the OPEC oil cartel.

Copyright 2000 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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