Chavez ridicules Washington's weapons ban

LONDON, May 16 (Reuters) Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez accused the United States of ''imperial abuse'' today after Washington banned US arms sales to his country.

Already hostile relations between the two nations descended further as Chavez, who was speaking to the BBC during a visit to London, derided the United States as an ''impotent empire'' and said he would ignore the weapons ban.

''The North American empire is becoming a paper tiger,'' he said through an interpreter.

''If it's true that the empire is taking sanctions against us, firstly it's a confirmation of imperial abuse, of imperial desperation (and) secondly we will take no notice. It is an impotent empire.'' Despite Venezuela's repeated assertions that it works against terrorism, and particularly militants in the Andean region, Washington accused it yesterday of being uncooperative in the US war on terrorism.

The arms ban symbolically escalates a diplomatic crisis between Washington and oil-rich Venezuela and comes after years of friction between the two nations on issues ranging from trade to oil prices.

Chavez has spent the past few days in London meeting various figures from the British political left. He has not met Prime Minister Tony Blair, whom he once criticised as ''the main ally of Hitler'' for his close ties with US President George W Bush.

From London, Chavez was due to travel to Algeria, a close ally and fellow OPEC member, and then to Tripoli for talks with Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi today.

REUTERS DKS KN1515