BOGOTA, COLOMBIA — Breaking with Bush administration policy, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston ventured to Venezuela to campaign for a thaw in relations with leftist President Hugo Chavez.

"We've made a serious mistake in not engaging with President Chavez," the Democratic lawmaker said Thursday in a telephone interview from Houston, a few hours after returning from a three-day trip to Caracas, the capital. "I came to break the tension, to warm up a chilled relationship."

The visit by Jackson Lee, a member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, which paid for the trip, was the first by a member of the U.S. Congress since the Democrats took control of the House and Senate and since Chavez won re-election. It also came in the wake of announcements by Chavez to move Venezuela toward what he calls "21st century socialism" — including plans by his government to take a majority stake of U.S.-run oil operations in the country.

"Houston jobs are directly related to our relationship with Venezuela," Jackson Lee said. "I don't want to give up on this very important regional partner."

Venezuela supplies about 11 percent of America's oil imports. Major U.S. petroleum companies, some based in Houston, have invested billions in the country.

But ever since an aborted coup in 2002 that Chavez charges was supported by the Bush administration, relations between Washington and Caracas have gone downhill.

Photo: GREGORIO MARRERO, AP

For his part, Chavez has alienated many members of Congress, especially after his infamous speech in September at the United Nations when he called President Bush "the devil."

The last high-profile U.S. delegation to Venezuela, led by Rep. Henry Hyde, R-Ill., who has since retired, was initially refused permission by the Chavez government to de-plane at the international airport in November 2005 and abruptly flew back to the U.S., further damaging ties.

Even so, said Cynthia Arnson, who heads the Latin America program at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, "there are people on both sides of the aisle in Congress who recognize that there are U.S. interests that need to be protected and that it requires a more pragmatic approach."

Opening door to dialogue?

Jackson Lee pressed the same point at a news conference Wednesday at thein Caracas, saying, "Venezuela has many friends in this new Congress."

But Arnson cautioned that "Chavez has not shown any interest in engaging the United States in any kind of constructive way."

In addition, there is growing concern in the U.S. about the health of Venezuela's democracy under Chavez, who also controls the military, the legislature and the courts and has moved to clamp down on some media outlets.

Jackson Lee met with Vice President Jorge Rodriguez as well as with officials at the National Assembly and Foreign Ministry and members of the Venezuelan media. She did not meet with Chavez in Caracas but said she would speak with him by telephone later Thursday.

Jackson Lee also conferred with executives from Chevron, Exxon Mobil Corp. and Venezuela's state-run oil company to discuss compensation as the government moves to become the majority shareholder of operations in the oil-rich Orinco River basin.

"I think we opened a door to dialogue," she said, "though it's not open far enough,"

Jackson Lee called on the Bush administration to lift a ban on arms sales to Venezuela. That would clear the way for the sale of spare parts and technological upgrades for Venezuela's aging F-16 fighter jets, which were purchased in the early 1980s and were made by Lockheed Martin Aeronautics of Fort Worth.

According to the Center for Responsive Politics in Washington, Jackson Lee, a seven-term lawmaker, has received about $7,000 in campaign contributions from Lockheed Martin since 1989. However, according to the center, she received far less than several other members of Congress from Texas, including Rep. Nick Lampson, D-Stafford — $28,259 — and Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas — $32,707.

Last year, the State Department banned the arms sales on grounds that Venezuela had failed to cooperate in the fight against drugs and terrorism. Chavez's government has also refused to sign agreements stating that U.S.-developed technologies would not be passed on to third countries.

Venezuela has purchased a new fleet of Russian-made Sukhoi fighter jets, and Chavez has talked of selling the F-16s to Iran, which Washington says would be illegal.

As for growing concerns in Washington about Chavez's leftist politics, Jackson Lee said: "The U.S. government has relations with many governments where we question human rights and press freedoms.

"China comes to mind."

Chronicle reporters Michelle Mittlestadt and Bennett Roth contributed to this report from Washington.

john.otis@chron.com