CARACAS, Venezuela (Reuters) - Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Friday he planned a visit to Syria to bolster ties in a move likely to rankle Washington, which charges the Arab nation with sponsoring terrorism.
Chavez, a harsh critic of U.S. foreign and trade policies, has strengthened political and energy ties with nations at odds with the Bush administration, such as Cuba and Iran, as he seeks to counter Washington's influence.
The Bush administration and British Prime Minister Tony Blair accuse Syria of backing militant groups in the Palestinian territories and Lebanon and stoking recent violence in the Middle East.
"A few weeks before the Middle East crisis we were sorting out dates to go. It has been our plan to visit Syria for the last few months. We will very likely visit," Chavez said in comments broadcast on state television during a tour of China.
Venezuela, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has reached out to Latin American neighbors as well as Russia, China and India to forge energy cooperation deals that Chavez says are an antidote to U.S.-backed free-trade accords.
Chavez has also said he plans to visit North Korea, the communist state under pressure from the West over its recent missile tests and nuclear program.
Washington paints Chavez as a destabilizing force bent on copying
Cuban communism and spreading an anti-democratic message in the
region. 