Venezuela says U.S. drug accord not needed: report

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela does not plan to sign an anti-drug accord with the United States, local media quoted Venezuela's top anti-drug official as saying on Saturday, days after Washington criticized Caracas for failing to crack down on drug traffickers.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a close ally of Cuba who has promised to fight U.S. "imperialism," cut off cooperation with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in 2005, accusing the group of spying on him.

The South American nation had promised to renew the accord on different terms but repeatedly postponed signing it.

"Until now it is not foreseen that we will sign an agreement with them," said Nestor Reverol, president of the National Anti-Drug Office, in an interview with the El Universal newspaper when asked about renewing DEA cooperation.

"It's not necessary to sign an agreement with any particular country," he said, later adding Venezuela was planning to sign an anti-drug cooperation accord with Germany.

The State Department said on Thursday drug trafficking through Venezuela from neighboring Colombia was increasing because of Venezuelan corruption and lack of cooperation with counter-narcotics agencies from other countries.

Washington in 2005 revoked the visas of three Venezuelan military officers on suspicions they were involved in drug trafficking.

The criticisms have fueled an already harsh war of words in which Chavez frequently attacks the United States as an imperialist power with a history of meddling in Latin America.

The State Department calls Chavez a menace to regional democracy and accuses him of using the nation's oil wealth to influence politics in neighboring countries.