"The credibility of these reports depends upon a coherent and objective analysis," said Kimberly Stanton, deputy director of the Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA), a Washington think-tank and advocacy group.

"This year, the political priorities of the US government affected the evaluation of the data in some cases," she said.

"Flagrant disparities in the treatment of Venezuela, Ecuador and Colombia" peppered the report, which was published Monday, she said.

Stanton called on the State Department to release information and "minimize the effects of ideology."

While the United States criticized Venezuela for a "poor" performance last year, she said, Colombia "benefited from a much more positive treatment, despite extrajudicial executions by government security forces ... and the assassination of at least 19 human rights workers."

In the report on Ecuador, Stanton said the State Department "barely mentioned" a purge of the Supreme Court.

Meanwhile, a "very dissatisfied" China yesterday lashed out at the United States for criticising its human rights record in an annual report, accusing the Americans of double standards.

"We're very dissatisfied with this report and we will protest over this report," foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told a regular briefing.

"I would like to take this opportunity to make the point that the United States should stop using double standards on human rights issues and stop interfering in the internal politics of China," he said.

The annual US human rights report Monday accused China of muting dissent, suppressing religious rights and restricting freedom of speech, and said there were cases of extrajudicial killings, torture and mistreatment of prisoners.

"This is not the first time the United States criticizes human rights in China," Liu said.

"I think this kind of report will do nothing good for the improvement of bilateral relations and will do no good to improve mutual confidence."

He declined to elaborate on steps China might take in reaction to the US report, such as publishing its own document on US abuses, as it has done in previous years.