Aug. 23 (Bloomberg) -- Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said that calls by U.S. television evangelist Pat Robertson to kill Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez were ``criminal.'' U.S. Senators Norm Coleman and Mel Martinez called Robertson's statements ``irresponsible'' and ``incredibly stupid.''

``It's the height of hypocrisy for the U.S. to continue talking about the war against terrorism when at the same time you have someone making obvious terrorist declarations in the heart of the country,'' Rangel said.

Robertson, a television evangelist, said yesterday on a broadcast of his ``700 Club'' program that Chavez is a ``dangerous enemy.'' He said killing Chavez would be cheaper than going to war with Venezuela to remove him.

``It was an incredibly stupid statement and has no reflection on reality,'' Coleman, the chairman of the Senate's Foreign Relations subcommittee on the western Hemisphere, told reporters while on a trip to Rio de Janeiro. ``I met with President Chavez on my last visit a couple of months ago and he related that concern to me, about how the U.S. was out to assassinate him. I told him not to lose any sleep about it.''

Chavez, 51, in June said there was ``evidence'' that the U.S. wanted him dead, an act that would violate an assassination ban first signed by Gerald Ford in 1976. The Venezuelan leader has repeatedly accused President George W. Bush of backing efforts to topple his government, a charge the U.S. denies.

Justification

``This type of statement justifies the Venezuelan government's worry about preserving the life of its president,'' Rangel said. ``President Bush said yesterday that his government rejects all forms of terrorism. The reaction of the U.S. to this presumably religious man will put to the test U.S. rhetoric.''

The U.S. has alleged Venezuela is using its oil wealth to undermine democracy in Latin America. Venezuela, the U.S.'s fourth-largest oil supplier, has threatened to cut off supplies.

``I don't know about this doctrine of assassination, but if he thinks we're trying to assassinate him, I think that we really ought to go ahead and do it,'' Robertson said of Chavez. ``This is a dangerous enemy to our south controlling a huge pool of oil.''

Robertson, 75, made the comments on Chavez yesterday on his program, an audiotape of which was posted on the Web site of the Christian Broadcasting Network, founded by the cleric in 1960 and based in Virginia.

``We have the ability to take him out, and I think the time has come to exercise that ability,'' Robertson said.

Executive Orders

Ford in 1976 signed an executive order that ``no employee of the United States government shall engage in, or conspire to engage in, political assassination.'' President Ronald Reagan in 1981 extended that ban to include all people ``employed by or acting on behalf of'' the government.

Following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on Washington and New York, the White House said the executive order does allow the U.S. to act in self-defense.

Robertson said that Chavez is going to make Venezuela a ``launching pad for communist infiltration and Muslim extremism all over the continent.'' Killing Chavez, who is currently visiting Cuba, would be cheaper than starting a war, he said.

``We don't need another $200 billion war to get rid of one strong-arm dictator,'' Robertson said. ``It's a whole lot easier to let some of the covert operatives do the job and get it over with.''

Arms Purchases

Venezuela has bought $240 million in Russian arms since March, drawing criticism from U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who said the buildup poses a threat to stability in the Western Hemisphere.

``We have a lot of evidence, not just rumors, that there are people who think the only solution is to kill Hugo Chavez,'' the Venezuelan leader said June 5 in Caracas, referring to the U.S. ``We've increased our security and intelligence a lot. If that madness happens, they will regret it.''

Chavez, who became president in February 1999, was overthrown in a coup in April 2002 and regained power two days later. The U.S., which didn't immediately condemn the overthrow of the Venezuelan leader, has rejected accusations by Chavez that it helped plan the coup.

In its initial reaction to the coup on April 12, 2002, the White House, through spokesman Ari Fleischer, placed blame for the unrest on Chavez and asserted -- incorrectly, as it turned out -- that Chavez had ``resigned the presidency'' and been replaced by a ``transitional authority.''

Chavez in August 2004 defeated a referendum to remove him from office, allowing him to see out his term until after the next elections, scheduled for December 2006. The referendum was forced after the opposition gathered 2.4 million signatures.

Robertson's ``700 Club'' reaches an average of 1 million American viewers daily, according to his Web site. He ran for the Republican Party's presidential nomination in 1988.

To contact the reporter on this story: Peter Wilson in Caracas at pewilson@bloomberg.net Alex Morales in London at amorales2@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: August 23, 2005 13:40 EDT