The Venezuelan Embassy in the United States upheld on Friday that a US intelligence report which states, inter alia, that Venezuela has continued a "covert support" to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) is an attempt to criminalize the government of President Hugo Chávez.

A spokeswoman of the Venezuelan embassy told Efe that Bernando Álvarez, the Venezuelan Ambassador to the US sent a letter to the US Congress on Thursday describing as "cynical" and "baseless" the report issued by Dennis Blair, the Director of National Intelligence (DNI).

The spokeswoman was responding a question about the alleged Venezuelan support to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), according to the DNI report submitted to the Senate.

In his letter to the Senate, Álvarez said that the report is a new attempt to "criminalize" the government of President Hugo Chávez and to "encourage sectors of the Venezuelan opposition which are seeking undemocratic ways to achieve power."