Venezuela's president Hugo Chavez says he is praying for Libya's deposed leader Moamar Gaddafi and also sent a message of solidarity to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad against "Yankee" aggression.

Mr Chavez - who has inherited Fidel Castro's mantle as Washington's main irritant in Latin America - views the wave of uprisings in the Arab world as Western-led destabilisation and has been a strong ally of Gaddafi.

"The Libyans are resisting the invasion and aggression. I ask God to protect the life of our brother Moamar Gaddafi. They're hunting him down to kill him," he said.

"No one knows where Gaddafi is, I think he went off to the desert ... to lead the resistance. What else can he do?"

With a presidential election looming for Venezuela in 2012, Mr Chavez's opponents have leapt on his support for Arab strongmen - and personal friendship with Gaddafi - as a sign of autocratic tendencies.

But he has been undeterred and also sent support to the government of Syria, which has launched a bloody campaign of repression against ongoing street protests.

"I spoke yesterday with the president of Syria, our brother president Bashar al-Assad," Mr Chavez said in a televised ceremony to present low-cost household appliances for Venezuelans.

"From here, we send our solidarity to the Syrian people, to President Bashar.

"They are resisting imperial aggression, the attacks of the Yankee empire and its European allies."

Mr Chavez, who has led his South American OPEC member nation since 1999, spoke at length in several public appearances on Saturday that were a further sign of vitality despite four sessions of chemotherapy for cancer treatment.

Earlier in the week the 57-year-old, who has shaved his hair and seen his face swell during chemotherapy, tossed a baseball in front of TV cameras to mock a US media report that he was having emergency treatment in hospital.

"I have quite a surprise for those who want me dead and go round saying I'm in hospital, I'm paralysed, I can't talk," he said.

"I keep getting better, I'm stronger every day."

Critics say Mr Chavez's anti-US diatribes and constant comments about his health are conveniently obscuring a litany of problems in Venezuela ranging from housing shortages and power-cuts to runaway inflation and untamed crime.

Reuters