Venezuela on Tuesday blasted a U.S. budget proposal to boost broadcasts against President Hugo Chavez, stoking the tension between a major world oil producer and its importer in the same hemisphere.

The Venezuelan Communications Ministry denounced the U.S. broadcast of "many messages critical of President Hugo Chavez," saying the practice is a "crass intervention" and a waste of U.S. taxpayers' money.

U.S. President George W. Bush announced on Monday that his 2007 budget proposal calls for the Voice of America to increase television and radio broadcasts of international and U.S. news to Venezuela, Zimbabwe and Afghanistan.

"This application is part of an interventionist policy spearheaded by Florida legislators linked to Miami's anti-Cuba mafia and terrorists like Luis Posada Carriles, a self-confessed and convicted torturer, murderer, aircraft-bomber and drug trafficker, " the statement said.

Posada Carriles is a former agent of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency who is accused of masterminding the 1976 terrorist attack on a Cuban airliner which led to the death of 73 people.

Born in Cuba and nationalized as Venezuelan in 1960, he was imprisoned by the Venezuelan authorities following the airliner attack, but escaped from jail in 1985 and entered the United States in March 2005.

The U.S. decision to boost broadcasting to Venezuela also came as a response to Telesur, a left-wing and anti-U.S. television station which began broadcasting in July 2005. The station is jointly owned by the Venezuela, Argentina, Cuba and Uruguay.

Chavez, elected in 1998, has blasted Washington's involvement in a failed coup against him in 2002. which was denied by U.S. officials. Last week, Caracas expelled a U.S. Embassy official accused of spying and Washington threw out a Venezuelan official in return.

Despite the political rift, Venezuela, the world's fifth largest oil producer, is still one of the top suppliers of U.S. oil imports.

Source: Xinhua