By JUAN FORERO

BOGOTÁ, Colombia, June 13 — A former Venezuelan general whose visa was revoked by the Bush administration had been advocating the overthrow of President
Hugo Chávez, American officials said today. The United States has publicly opposed the president's overthrow, urging that his fate be settled by democratic means.

The visa of the former general, Enrique Medina, was rescinded by the State Department in May on the recommendation of the American Embassy in Venezuela, a State Department official said by phone from Washington. Mr. Medina, a former attaché in the Venezuelan Embassy in Washington, led a group of dissident generals who have for months gathered in a Caracas neighborhood opposed to Mr. Chávez and loudly called for his ouster.

"A lot of people looked at what this guy was engaged in and it was clearly inconsistent with U.S. law and democratic principles," said an American official in Washington who is familiar with State Department policy on the matter. In rescinding Mr. Medina's visa, American authorities invoked regulations barring foreigners who endorse "terrorist activity."

Political experts on Venezuela said the decision, first reported in The Miami Herald on Wednesday, signaled that the United States rejected radical elements in
Venezuela's opposition that favored an anything-goes approach to deposing Mr. Chávez. The opposition has so far led a failed coup in April 2002 and four national strikes, which have devastated the economy.

Although the Bush administration holds a dim view of the left-leaning president, the United States has publicly endorsed a referendum on Mr. Chávez's rule as the solution to the political tumult in the nation. Last month, the Organization of American States brokered an agreement that may lead to a referendum later in the year.

"The U.S is trying to say to folks that any talk, any harboring of notions that you could follow a nondemocratic solution to the crisis will not be condoned," said Miguel
Diaz, who tracks American policy in Venezuela for the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies. "I think this is a way for the U.S. government to add its imprimatur to the referendum process."

In the latest outbreak of violence, seven people were wounded today, four by gunfire, as an opposition march unfolded in a poor neighborhood of Caracas traditionally
supportive of the president, Reuters reported.

The police and national guard troops clashed with angry supporters of the president who threatened to attack the opposition rally, firing tear gas to break up the protesters.

Mr. Medina has not been officially charged with taking part in the coup. But he is closely linked with officers who took over when Mr. Chávez was briefly overthrown,
and he later became the ringleader of dissident military officers who camped out in Plaza Altamira, the public square that became the center of antigovernment activities.

While their positions resonate with many Venezuelans, the American Embassy and some leading opposition figures have distanced themselves from the generals.

Mr. Medina could not be reached for comment today. But in an article in a Venezuelan newspaper this week, he accused the American government of allowing itself to
be manipulated by the Chávez government.