Chavez: Top US diplomat a 'professional killer'

President Hugo Chavez said on Sunday that his government is redoubling efforts to detect assassination plots, calling US diplomat John Negroponte a ''professional killer'' and saying he believes enemies - including the CIA - are out to kill him.

Chavez said Venezuelan officials have intelligence that associates of jailed Cuban anti-communist militant Luis Posada Carriles also are involved in plotting to assassinate him. (AP)