Senior US administration officials are working on a policy to "contain" President Hugo Chávez and what they allege is his drive to "subvert" Latin America's least stable states, writes Andy Webb-Vidal.

A strategy aimed at fencing in the Chávez government is being prepared at the behest of President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice, the secretary of state, senior US officials say. Roger Pardo-Maurer, deputy assistant secretary for western hemisphere affairs at the Department of Defense, said the policy was being developed because Mr Chavez was employing a "hyena strategy" in the region.