Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez said on Wednesday that dissenting leaders are losing their time by appealing to foreign agencies to claim that the 26 presidential directives issued under the enabling law violate the Constitution.

"They are losing your time by going, as it were, to the Organization of American States. The OAS has nothing to do with a country's laws. This is an absolutely internal affair," he said.

He regretted that Leopoldo López, the leader of opposition Un Nuevo Tiempo (UNT) party, and other opposition representatives showed up at the Mercosur Parliament Commission on Human Rights and other international bodies to talk about the issue of politicians barred from elected public office.

"US fans are desperately looking for all their contacts. They should not be underestimated though. They play the game by using their buddies here and anywhere else. In Europe too. They are moving to and fro. They have gone to Mercosur, OAS, the Inter-American Court of whatever."

"In the meantime, I will continue calling them after what they really are: homeland-sellers, US minions, groveling."