CARACAS, Venezuela — Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has extended a preferential oil-trade deal to 13 Caribbean countries in what he says is part of a plan to challenge U.S. economic domination of the region.

Under his plan, called PetroCaribe, Venezuela will soon sell up to 190,000 barrels of fuel a day to countries from Jamaica to St. Lucia, offering favorable financing while shipping fuel directly to reduce costs. It is expected to help those countries save millions of dollars.

Chávez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, says the new plan is part of a vision of a "multipolar" world no longer controlled by "U.S. imperialism." He sees it as part of an alternative for international trade based more on regional solidarity than U.S.-style free trade.

The plan includes a $50 million fund to pay for social programs across the Caribbean, similar to those Chávez has started at home with rising oil profits.

Chávez has promoted his self-styled socialist revolution by helping to finance a regional TV channel, sending out free medical care and selling fuel in partial exchange for food.

The Venezuelan president says these deals counter the failure of the U.S.-supported trade accords, the World Bank and International Monetary Fund to tackle chronic poverty.

Chávez has emerged as a leading critic of the U.S. proposal for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, saying that plan would simply help big U.S. companies at the expense of Latin countries by drawing away their natural resources while doing nothing to confront systematic poverty.

Relations between Chávez and the U.S. have become increasingly strained, though the United States remains the top buyer of Venezuelan oil. Chávez has repeatedly accused the U.S. government of backing plots against him, and recently alleged the U.S. was preparing an invasion of his country.

U.S. officials strongly deny his claims but have expressed concerns about the health of Venezuelan democracy under Chávez, who was first elected in 1998 pledging a social "revolution" for the country's poor majority.

Still, the PetroCaribe plan is a welcome message for cash-strapped Caribbean nations that traditionally have looked to the U.S. for aid.

"PetroCaribe is good for a country like Jamaica," Jamaican Commerce Minister Phillip Paulwell said Tuesday during a trip to Trinidad. He said his island's deal will help free up vital funds for social projects at a time of high oil prices.

Grenada expects to save up to $14 million a year through the Venezuelan initiative, Energy Minister Gregory Bowen said Tuesday.

Venezuela and the 13 Caribbean countries signed on to PetroCaribe during talks in June. Under more specific deals signed by nine countries last week, the Caribbean nations will be required to pay only a portion up front and can finance the rest over 25 years at low interest rates.

The South American country, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, plans to allow Caribbean nations to pay some debts with goods such as rice, bananas or sugar.

Chávez had been expected to take his message to this week's U.N. summit in New York, but on Tuesday, he accused U.S. authorities of denying visas for his security team and said that forced him to put the trip on hold.

U.S. officials said they had not denied visas to any members of the Venezuelan delegation.