Western Hemisphere
The chief of the US Army's Southern Command, General Douglas Fraser, said on Thursday that the Venezuelan government is a "destabilizing force" in Latin America and continues to support leftist guerrillas in Colombia.

Fraser's comments came a week after he told a US Senate hearing that the Pentagon had no evidence of a "government-to-terrorist" connection between Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez and rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

Fraser, who testified to the House of Representatives Armed Services Committee, said Venezuela remains a threat to US interests.

Meanwhile, Venezuela's ambassador in Washington, Bernardo Álvarez, said the reversal of General Fraser's position, in order to conform to statements made by officials in the Obama administration, showed that the United States has no proof of Venezuelan support for the FARC. Álvarez said that the criticism was politically motivated.