MEXICO: Mexico and Venezuela have pulled their ambassadors from each other's capitals after the government of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez refused to apologise for his remarks belittling Mexican president Vicente Fox.
Mr Chavez, a frequent critic of US foreign police, last week called Fox "the puppy" of the Bush administration.
When the Mexican government announced it would expel the Venezuelan ambassador here if the Chavez government did not apologise within 24 hours, Venezuela responded by ordering its ambassador home.
Mexico then recalled its ambassador to Caracas, with Mr Fox saying: "We cannot allow people to offend our country." The two countries fell short of breaking off diplomatic ties, leaving room for an eventual compromise.
However, the verbal tug-of-war underlies a growing regional split in Latin America that was all too apparent at this month's Summit of the Americas in Argentina. Mr Chavez used the occasion to lash out at the Bush administration's support for a regional free-trade agreement.
Mr Fox, an ally of the US on trade issues, found himself exchanging criticisms during and after the summit with Mr Chavez, Argentine president Nestor Kirchner and even Argentine soccer star Diego Maradona.
The presidents of Argentina, Brazil and Venezuela have all sharply criticised US trade and monetary policies, which they say contribute to poverty in the region. But Mr Fox and most Central American leaders have sought more relaxed trade ties with the US.
"It's sad to see how Fox surrenders," Mr Chavez told a national television audience last Wednesday. "How sad that a country like Mexico has a president who is the puppy of the American empire." In Mexico, politicians of all stripes rallied behind Mr Fox, calling Mr Chavez's remarks an insult to Mexico's national honour.
"It matters to us as Mexicans," said Juan Jose Garcia Ochoa, a congressman with the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution. "We don't want any head of state to insult the president of Mexico." But veteran diplomats in Mexico called the spat the latest in a series of foreign policy mistakes by Mr Fox.
"What Fox has done here is to throw a small rock at a professional boxer, because Chavez is someone who loves this kind of fight and excels at it," said Rafael Fernandez de Castro, editor of Foreign Affairs en Espanol magazine.
"Without wanting to, and without deserving it, Fox is being seen as the spokesman for the Bush administration in Latin America," Fernandez added. "And no US president has ever been as unpopular in Latin America as President Bush."
Mr Bush attended the Argentine summit at the resort of Mar del Plata with more than two dozen other heads of state from around the western hemisphere, but made little progress in talks for a free trade agreement of the Americas.
Mr Fox blamed the host for the failure to reach an accord, saying Mr Kirchner had sacrificed diplomacy to score points with Argentine public opinion, which is solidly anti-Bush.
Mr Kirchner responded by saying Mr Fox "should worry about Mexico, and leave Argentine matters to me". However, Argentine and Mexican diplomats quickly smoothed over the differences. - (La Times-Washington Post service)