Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has called on the US ambassador in Caracas to retract his assertion that drug trafficking in the country is rising.

Chavez said the comments were absolutely false and that a retraction would demonstrate that Washington is serious about wanting good relations. William Brownfield said poor police collaboration was making Venezuela a preferred drug route to the Caribbean. The comments follow recent improvements in relations between the two countries. Chavez said the US ambassador?s claims were ?a lack of respect for the truth? and said they were ?absolutely false?.

The president blamed US drug consumption for the problem and accused the US of turning from communism to the drug war to justify its military presence in the region.

In comments published on Tuesday by the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, Mr Brownfield said the estimated amount of cocaine smuggled through Venezuela had increased to about 300 metric tons in 2006.

?The drug traffickers have identified a vacuum because there is less police collaboration than in any other country... they take advantage of Venezuela to move their product toward the Caribbean,? he said.

However, Mr Brownfield said the two countries could make progress in the areas of trade, energy and anti-drug efforts despite deep political differences.