President Hugo Chavez said foreigners who publicly criticise him or his government while visiting Venezuela will be expelled from the country.

Mr Chavez ordered officials to closely monitor statements made by international figures during their visits to Venezuela — and deport any outspoken critics. "How long are we going to allow a person — from any country in the world — to come to our own house to say there’s a dictatorship here, that the President is a tyrant, and nobody does anything about it?" asked Mr Chavez, speaking during his weekly Sunday television and radio programme.

"No foreigner, whoever he may be, can come here and attack us. Whoever comes, we must remove him from the country," he said. "I’m talking about some gentlemen who come here for conferences." The Venezuelan leader did not elaborate but his statements came after Manuel Espino, the president of Mexico’s conservative ruling party, criticised Mr Chavez for seeking indefinite rule during a recent pro-democracy forum in Caracas.