US former Assistant Secretary of State for Western Hemisphere Affairs Roger Noriega declared Thursday in Santo Domingo that Venezuela is heading for dictatorship and asked the countries in the hemisphere to pay attention to the Venezuelan situation.

According to Noriega, President Hugo Chávez has cashed in on majority at the National Assembly (AN) to amend laws and appoint election officials in line with the ruling party. Additionally, he has turned state bodies, including the army, into political agencies, Efe reported.

The US ex official made these remarks during an interview published Thursday in local newspaper "Hoy."
  
Noriega, for more than two years the individual responsible of the US policy concerning Latin America, is currently in the Dominican Republic to deliver two speeches on bilateral political and economic relations.
  
While insisting on saying that the Inter American community should take part in the matter, he clarified that Venezuelans themselves need to solve the conflict.