Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Central Intelligence Agency of conspiring to assassinate him during his planned visit to El Salvador.

Chavez called off a trip to the Latin American state of El Salvador on Monday in order to forestall alleged efforts meant to murder him on the plane.

The Venezuelan leader stated that the country's intelligence services hold "very precise information" that incriminates the CIA of the alleged plot.

He went on to say that an infamous Cuban rebel and ex-CIA agent, Luis Posada Carriles, sought to launch a rocket attack on the presidential plane -- the Cubana de Aviacion.

"I don't doubt that the intelligence organizations of the United States are behind this," he said.

Chavez was due to meet El Salvador's new leftist president, Mauricio Funes, at his inauguration ceremony.

The 81-year-old Posada was charged in absentia with blowing up a Cuban airliner in Venezuela in 1976 in which 73 people were killed.

The US government has thus far ignored Venezuelan calls for his extradition.

So far, US authorities have abstained from comments on the latest allegations.

In 2006, Chavez slammed the US for purportedly hiring a hitman to gun him down during a visit to western Venezuela.

ARQN/JG/AA