© Reuters
Bolivia's President Evo Morales
A top Bolivian official says conservatives have plotted to pay one of President Evo Morales' peasant supporters to kill him.

Government Minister Alfredo Rada says "extreme right" elements hoped to take advantage of Morales' frequent visits to rural areas, where the socialist leader is often swarmed by large crowds of admirers under only minimal security.

Rada said Monday that plotters planned to convince a poor farmer that Morales had betrayed the social movements that drove his rise to power and then pay the man to kill the president. He did not provide evidence for the plot, but said an investigation was continuing.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said Sunday that Morales had told him of an assassination plan.