Venezuela's president says he will expel a US diplomat if it is proved he has plotted against his government with opposition leaders in Puerto Rico.

During a televised broadcast, Hugo Chavez said he possesses reports that US advisers had met with various leaders from the opposition parties to discuss how to defeat the referendum proposal to change the constitution allowing him to run for reelection in 2012.

"If this is proven, I will throw him out of the country for meddling in Venezuela's internal affairs," Reuters quoted him as saying very firmly.

Under the present law, he will have to step down in 2013. The referendum is expected in February.

Chavez expelled the US Ambassador Patrick Duddy to Caracas last September and withdrew his envoy in a dispute over Washington's suspected role in anti-government protests in Bolivia, an ally of Venezuela.

He has also blamed the United States for helping in a 2002 coup which briefly ousted him.

This week, Chavez expelled the Israeli ambassador in protest over the offensive in Gaza, which he described as a Palestinian Holocaust.

FTP/HAR