Chávez and leaders from Cuba, Bolivia and Nicaragua also promised joint programs for agricultural development in addition to the new Food Security Fund, though they provided no details on how the programs and fund would work.
''This food crisis is the biggest demonstration of the historic failure of the capitalist model,'' Chávez told Bolivian President Evo Morales, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega and Cuban Vice President Carlos Lage during a summit in Caracas.
Chávez said the countries need to create a distribution network ``so we don't fall into the hands of intermediaries and speculators, which stop millions from receiving food.''
Global food prices, stoked by rising fuel prices, unpredictable weather and increased demand from India and China have sparked sometimes violent protests this year in the Caribbean, Africa and Asia.
High prices are expected to persist even though overall food production is rising, according to the United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization.
Venezuela has struggled with sporadic shortages that often make it difficult to find staples such as milk, sugar and beef. Chávez has blamed local businesses, saying they hoard products. But critics blame government-imposed price controls, which they say make it difficult for some businesses to turn a profit.
Venezuela continues to import most of the food it consumes despite a nationwide agrarian reform initiative launched by Chávez more than six years ago.
Communist Cuba also imports most of its food -- much of it coming from the United States. Cuba expects to spend $1.9 billion on food imports in 2008 -- about 20 percent more than last year.
Bolivia's Morales said soaring prices prompted his government to grant small producers of corn, rice, wheat and soybeans interest-free loans as incentives for production.
Chávez also accused Washington of conspiring against Morales by encouraging several states in eastern Bolivia to seek greater autonomy from the central government through a May 4 referendum, which Morales has called ''illegal.'' Chávez said the vote is meant to clear the way for U.S. companies to access Bolivia's immense natural gas reserves.
''Behind the mask of autonomy is the separatist plan to create a new state that we would never recognize,'' said Chávez. ``The imperialist strategy is to break Bolivia in half.''
In the past, U.S. embassy officials in La Paz have rejected Morales' repeated charges that Washington is behind the push for increased autonomy in eastern Bolivia.
