"As a regional neighbor of the United States, Venezuela is increasingly threatening stability in the Western Hemisphere. The country's leadership is determined to move the country away from democracy and toward socialism; maintains close relations with Cuba and Iran and continues to decrease its cooperation in ant-drug and anti-terrorism efforts," Rep. Duncan Hunter, R-Calif., said in a statement Wednesday. Hunter is the ranking Republican on the House Armed Services Committee and a conservative candidate for the GOP's 2008 presidential nomination.

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has been strengthened by soaring global energy prices and has spoken of his ambition to create a new union of Latin American states that would oppose and seek to undermine U.S. influence in the Western Hemisphere.

.