http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/13127649.htm

Posted on Thu, Nov. 10, 2005

Chávez blasts Fox


CARACAS - (AP) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez called his Mexican counterpart a ''puppy of the empire'' for supporting a Washington-backed free-trade zone at the Summit of the Americas.

Mexico reacted by calling in the Venezuelan ambassador, Vladimir Villegas Poljak, to explain Chávez's remarks.

''How sad that the president of a great country like Mexico allowed himself to be the puppy of the empire,'' Chávez said Wednesday evening in his first public speech since returning from the 34-nation summit in Argentina.

The barb comes after Mexican President Vicente Fox, apparently irked by Chávez's strident calls against the trade pact, said in comments to news media after the summit, ``there we have some presidents, fortunately a minority, who blame other countries for all their problems.''

Fox, a staunch supporter of the trade zone, also criticized Argentine President Néstor Kirchner, for failing to support the pact.