Pirated Ship Halts

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Feb. 17--The hijacked Venezuelan freighter under chase by U.S. and Venezuelan warships stopped tonight near an island off the Brazilian coast.

The U.S. Defense Department in Washington said a plane tracking the 3127-ton Anzoategul, which was seized by Communist gunmen on the high seas Wednesday, reported the vessel came to a sudden halt about 7 p.m.

The revolutionists--branded as pirates by the Betancourt government--had defied warning smoke rockets from a U.S. search plane yesterday and kept going.

The Defense Department reported that a Navy ship, the Josiah Willard Gibbs, was within 20 miles of the Anzoategul and would keep the freighter under surveillance but would not take any other action.