Chavez warns of assassination plots

CARACAS, Venezuela, March 5 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said his government is stepping up its efforts to thwart assassination attempts, El Universal reported Monday.

The outspoken leftist leader said the CIA among others is out to get him. Potential assassins named by Chavez include associates of the jailed anti-Castro militant Luis Possada Carriles.

Chavez also named Deputy Secretary of State John Negroponte as a possible conspirator against him.

Relations between Venezuela and the United States have soured in recent years. Chavez accuses the Bush administration of trying to meddle in Venezuelan affairs and of supporting the short-lived coup against him in April 2004.