Venezuela has decided to end military exchanges with the United States because US instructors tried to foment activities against the government and the army in the barracks, President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday.

The US officers have been ordered to stop their work and leave Venezuela's military bases because they were found trying to create chaos by speaking ill of the president and top leaders of the military, Chavez said, adding that such activities are intolerable.

Venezuela will suspend all exchange programs indefinitely until it has a transparent cooperative relationship with the United States, Chavez said.

His words confirmed an announcement by the US Embassy on Friday that the instructors have been ordered to end their mission.

However, trade between the two countries remains normal despite the strained political relations. The United States exports to Venezuela a lot of manufactured goods and high-tech products and receives from the country 1.6 million barrels of oil per day, accounting for 15 percent of its total oil imports.

(Xinhua News Agency April 25, 2005)