"The Bush administration has steadily denied any plan to force Chávez out of power by unconstitutional means."
It would be much more fruitful to stoke the flames and watch him be devoured from within.
That was tried via the oil workers strike and it failed. In fact it backfired and has made him a hero to his country.
Left populist governments are being elected all across Latin America. None of whom have any sympathy for anything that looks like gringo bullying.