Saturday, March 5 2005 17:00 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez Frias today (Mar 5, 2005) claimed that the United States launched an "aggression" against his country three years back and wanted to "assassinate" him.

"The US aggression against our country is underway and it plans to assassinate me. If anything happens to me, the President of the US will be responsible for it," he told a press conference in New Delhi after holding wide-ranging talks with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Observing that his country was having "good relations" with the US during the tenure of US President Bill Clinton, he said Washington "started the aggression against my country and the people three years back."

Asked as to what role India could play to ease the situation, the Venezuelan President, who stressed that he was not a communist but a patriot and a nationalist, said "what kind of measures can be taken by David against Goliath."

"Our country is on national alert...We do not want any confrontation but they should not hurt our dignity... Because of personal security reasons I have not been able to go to New York. We are continuing to take necessary measures in the Defence sphere," he added.