Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has repeated a claim that the United States is plotting to assassinate him.

He made the statement without elaborating Saturday in New Delhi. Washington has previously dismissed the allegation as ridiculous and false.

President Chavez also said world oil prices will remain between $40 and $50 a barrel and that the market will never have prices as low as $10 a barrel again.

The Venezuelan leader is on the second day of a four-day visit to India.

The two countries have signed a number of agreements on economic cooperation, including one for India to have a 49 percent stake in Venezuela's San Cristobal oil field, while the Venezuelan state-run oil firm gets a stake in India's Mangalore Refinery and Petrochemicals Limited.

Some information for this report provided by AFP and AP.

Commentary:
There appears to be ample evidence the US (Bush) supported the military coup against Chavez. The US ambassador met with the coup leaders within 24-hours of the military coup. The US is forbidden by treaty to recognize a military coup in the Americas. After Chavez was put back in power (the coup failed) Bush (and the US media) were forced to backtrack and denounce the coup.

It seems obvious the US media and the Bush Administration were already hard at work manipulating the news very early on. Anyone wanting to research the propaganda of the Bush Administration and the utter destruction of truth in the US media should begin with how each handled the military coup in Venezuela.

As part of OPEC Chavez is making it clear there will never be cheap gas again. It's also highly likely he led SA against Bush in the UN when he was trying to get an up o down vote (Bush broke his promise after it became evident he had no chance of winning).