Chavez: US wanted drug suspect to smear Venezuela

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that U.S. officials hoped to use an alleged cocaine kingpin to smear his government with corruption accusations and thanked Colombia's leader for rejecting Washington's extradition request.

Chavez said the decision of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to send Walid Makled to Venezuela instead showed improving ties between neighbors who have often feuded recently.

"Washington wants to use him so he vomits all kinds of accusations against the Bolivarian Revolution, against its political and military leadership," Chavez wrote in a newspaper column, referring to the political movement he named after 19th-century …