Venezuela ? Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez warned Friday he could cut off oil exports to the United States if Washington goes “over the line” in what he has said are attempts to destabilize his left-leaning government.

Chavez made his threat a day after Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the Venezuelan government posed “one of the biggest problems” in the region and that its ties to Cuba were “particularly dangerous” to democracy in Latin America.

Chavez has threatened to halt oil exports to U.S. ports before, but Friday was the first time he mentioned having made contacts with other crude buyers as part of a contingency plan.

Venezuela, the world’s fifth-largest oil exporter, ships 1.5 million barrels of oil a day to the United States.