The Venezuelan navy recently chased off a 'nuclear-powered submarine' that violated its territorial waters, President Hugo Chavez said, without pointing to any specific country.
In a televised call to state TV late on Wednesday, Chavez said naval forces had detected the submarine on Tuesday and pursued it, but 'it escaped because it was much faster than ours'.
"Obviously, given the speed and the velocity, it was a nuclear-powered submarine, but we are investigating," he added.
Chavez said his government had its 'suspicions' concerning the origin of the vessel, but said 'we are not accusing anyone' at the moment.
"We cannot say exactly who it was, because we have no evidence, but it was certainly a submarine," Chavez said.
He added that 'the imperialists', referring to the United States, 'have grown accustomed to strolling around the Caribbean and being all over the place, including by using satellites for espionage'.
The fiery leftist Chavez has long accused the United States of meddling in Latin America and has cultivated ties with Washington's arch-foes, including Cuba and Iran.