CIA stole Bolivian missiles: Chavez

thepeninsula: Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez on Thursday accused the CIA of masterminding the theft of Bolivian surface-to-air missiles last year to prevent them from falling into the hands of leftist President-elect Evo Morales.

Chavez, who often accuses Washington and the CIA of plots against his self-proclaimed socialist revolution, gave no evidence of his claim. Yet his allegations have moved the missile crisis to the center stage of growing suspicion among South America's resurgent left of Washington's intentions in the region.

At the height of election campaigning, Morales, a former coca leaf farmer who is to take office on Sunday, denounced the destruction in October of up to 30 Chinese-made Bolivian surface-to-air missiles in the United States.

"The head of the Bolivian army handed over some missiles to the American ambassador in Bolivia when they noticed Evo was going to win," Chavez said on the sidelines of a summit of heads of state from Venezuela, Argentina and Brazil.

"The United States stole missiles from Bolivia, they are international thieves," he said after meeting Argentina's Nestor Kirchner and Brazil's Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva. Read more