WASHINGTON, USA (AP) - Cuba and Venezuela are attempting to install leftist governments throughout Latin America and are closest to achieving their objective in Bolivia, a Defence Department official said yesterday.

Roger Pardo-Maurer, a deputy assistant secretary who specialises in Western Hemisphere issues, said Bolivia has become the main target of the two leftist Caribbean countries because revolutionary conditions exist there.

"There is no question" that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez is "providing money and moral support" for Opposition forces in Bolivia, who are led by a populist congressman, Evo Morales. While Chavez provides the resources for the Bolivian Opposition, Cuban President Fidel Castro provides the direction and organisation, Pardo-Maurer said.

"They are trying to steer this revolution toward a Marxist-socialist populist state," said the Pentagon official, speaking to a gathering at the conservative Hudson Institute.

Pardo-Maurer said Cuba and Venezuela have targeted many other hemispheric countries besides Bolivia.
"There are subversive projects going on everywhere else," and they seem to be primarily financed and organised by Venezuela, he said.

He did not offer specific evidence for the assertions.
In a telephone interview, Venezuelan Ambassador Bernardo Alvarez said he saw Pardo-Maurer's remarks as an Administration scare tactic aimed at securing votes in the House of Representatives for CAFTA, a six-nation Latin America free trade agreement. A vote is expected this week.

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