Venezuela slams Robertson's call for Chavez assassination Venezuela slams Robertson's call for Chavez

CARACAS,Venezuela -- Venezuela's vice president accused religious broadcaster Pat Robertson on Tuesday of making "terrorist statements" by suggesting that American agents assassinate President Hugo Chavez.\nVice President Jose Vicente Rangel said Venezuela was studying its legal options, adding that how Washington responds to Robertson's comments would put its anti-terrorism policy to the test.\n"The ball is in the U.S. court, after this criminal statement by a citizen of that country," Rangel told reporters. "It's (a) huge hypocrisy to maintain this discourse against terrorism and at the same time, in the heart of that country, there are entirely terrorist statements like those."\nThe State Department distanced itself from Robertson's comments.\n"We do not share his view, and his comments are inappropriate," spokesman Sean McCormack said.\nThere was no immediate comment from Chavez, who was winding up an official visit to Cuba on Tuesday. Scores of journalists awaited Chavez at the airport, where he was to board a plane for a trip to Jamaica to discuss a Venezuela initiative to supply petroleum to Caribbean countries under favorable financial terms.\nOn Monday, Robertson said on the Christian Broadcasting Network's "The 700 Club": "We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come that we exercise that ability."\n"We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one, you know, strong-arm dictator," he continued. "It's a whole lot easier to have some of the covert operatives do the job and then get it over with."\nChavez has emerged as one of the most outspoken critics of President Bush, accusing the United States of conspiring to topple his government and possibly backing plots to assassinate him. U.S. officials have called the accusations ridiculous.\n"You know, I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it," Robertson said. "It's a whole lot cheaper than starting a war ... and I don't think any oil shipments will stop."\nRangel called Robertson "a man who seems to have quite a bit of influence in that country," adding sarcastically that his words were "very Christian."\nThe comments "reveal that religious fundamentalism is one of the great problems facing humanity in these times," Rangel said.\nRobertson's remarks appear likely to further stoke tensions between Washington and Caracas. Chavez has repeatedly claimed that American officials are plotting to oust or kill him -- charges U.S. officials have denied.