CARACAS, Venezuela — President Hugo Chavez on Saturday accused Barack Obama of meddling in a referendum that could allow him to run for re-election indefinitely and ordered a crackdown on disorderly student protests against the upcoming vote.
In a speech to supporters, Chavez accused the U.S. president-elect of supporting the Venezuelan opposition and wanting to see him removed from office.
"He's said I'm an obstacle for progress in Latin America," Chavez said. "Therefore it must be removed, this obstacle, right?"he Venezuelan leader, who has repeatedly accused opposition leaders of planning violence if the re-election referendum passes, urged his rivals to go "the legal way."
Opposition leader Manuel Rosales promised a peaceful campaign against lifting term limits.
"We don't participate in riots or violence," he told Globovision TV on Saturday. "We are not against constitutional and legal norms."
Chavez said he had information that opposition leaders he accuses of meeting with advisers from the U.S. government in Puerto Rico went to New York on Friday for similar reasons.
"Can't you see that Obama has gotten involved in the (referendum) campaign?" he said.
"We are facing very powerful enemies. Barack Obama seems to be making new trouble."
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