In blasts of Cold War rhetoric, Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez has carved out a place for himself lambasting US imperialism while extending his largesse to leaders sympathetic to his leftist revolution.

But diplomatic disputes with his neighbours, including regional powerhouse Brazil, have shown limits to Chavez’s appeal as he tries to forge a socialist alliance as an alternative to Washington’s free market proposals for Latin America.

The spats underscore splits among leftists who have taken power in recent years, with more pragmatic leaders like President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in Brazil and President Michelle Bachelet in Chile wary of making an enemy of the United States.

“Chavez has become more visible and he has emerged as an influence, but he is as much a source of appeal as he is a source of liability,” said Patrick Esteruelas, a Latin America analyst at New York-based consultants Eurasia Group.

Needled by his close ties to Cuba, Washington portrays the former soldier as an oil-wealthy tyrant spreading an anti-democratic message around the region. The United States on Monday banned arms sales to Venezuela, citing a lack of help in Washington’s war on terrorism.

His coffers bulging with oil revenues, Chavez has sought out closer integration with fellow leftists in Brazil, Argentina and Bolivia with energy and cooperation deals he says will counter the failure of US-backed free trade agreements.

His message has found most fertile ground in Andean neighbours Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador which have large indigenous populations and where emerging leaders are promising similar social reforms to those implemented by Chavez in Venezuela.

But underscoring divisions in Latin America, Chavez quit an Andean trade bloc blaming Colombia and Peru for signing US trade deals, and Cuba, Venezuela and Bolivia signed an alternative trade alliance.

Brazil, which has sought to play a mediating role between the United States and Venezuela, also struck out at Chavez for meddling when he backed Bolivia’s nationalisation move that hurt Brazilian firm Petrobras.

Chavez’s backing of Peruvian presidential candidate Ollanta Humala appears to have backfired with voters rejecting his links with Venezuela’s leader after the two countries withdrew their ambassadors in a diplomatic spat.

“There are real obstacles to him consolidating his leadership in the region, his very divisive politics and rhetoric are not widely shared by most governments,” said Michael Shifter at Inter-American Dialogue think tank in Washington.

Hailed as “El Comandante” by followers, Chavez gets the popstar welcome from leftist and anti-globalisation movements and has drawn support from sources as diverse as US anti war activist Cindy Sheehan, British MPs and Iran’s government.

Chavez clearly revelled in his bad boy image this month in Europe as he greeted students and left-wing intellectuals, lashed out a US policies and treated audiences to hours of speeches that drew comparisons to his ally Fidel Castro.

“There is a great ideological conflict — on one side those who defend Washington’s consensus and the neoliberalism that has ravaged our people and on the other side us, who propose a great change,” Chavez told reporters in Vienna. — Reuters