Mexico Demands Explanation for Chavez Remarks From Venezuelan Ambassador

[Judi Lynn]

Mexico Demands Explanation for Chavez Remarks From Venezuelan Ambassador

By Mark Stevenson Associated Press Writer
Published: Nov 10, 2005

MEXICO CITY (AP) - The Mexican government said on Wednesday it is calling in the Venezuelan ambassador to explain remarks by President Hugo Chavez, after Chavez called Mexican President Vicente Fox "a puppy" of the United States.

The comments came in Chavez' first public speech since last week's 34-nation summit in Argentina, where Chavez railed against a U.S.-backed free trade plan, and Fox defended it.

"The Venezuelan Ambassador, Vladimir Villegas Poljak, has been summoned to provide explanations in the case," Mexico's Foreign Relations Department said in a press statement.

The statement said Mexico wanted Villegas Poljak to account for Chavez's comments.
(snip/...)

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGBAHJPKUFE.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Chavez isn't the only one who thinks so: Argentina's President Néstor Kirchner agrees, only Vicente Fox apparently decides to take a kick at Chavez, in order to gain some beloved _Bush puppet points:

Thursday, November 10, 2005

Kirchner tells Fox to mind his own business

Amid the continuing fallout from last week’s stalemated Summit of the Americas, President Néstor Kirchner yesterday warned his Mexican counterpart Vicente Fox — who criticized him for opposing a United States-led free trade regional pact — to mind his own business, even suggesting Fox was a US puppet.
"Let President Fox mind about Mexico. I was voted into office by the Argentine people and I will engage in defending Argentines in the due way," said Kirchner during a rally in the Greater Buenos Aires district of Ezeiza.
In media interviews earlier this week, Fox said that as host of the 34-nation gathering, Kirchner was responsible for seeking consensus on restarting talks on the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA) pact.
‘‘Instead, the impression several of us got there is that the president’s thinking was directed more at satisfying public opinion in Argentina, and involved more with Argentines’ image of the president, than achieving a successful summit, with American integration,’’ he said.
The summit, held on Friday and Saturday in the Argentine coastal city of Mar del Plata, ended without consensus on free trade. The US, Mexico and 26 other countries supported resuming talks on the FTAA, while Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay — which form the trade bloc Mercosur — as well as Venezuela, say conditions are not right for discussions, due to concern over US farm subsidies.
Kirchner adopted "an ideological stance" at the summit, said Fox, a conservative who has been close to Washington on trade issues.
Kirchner, popular at home for standing up to the International Monetary Fund and multinationals, even insinuated Fox was a puppet of the US. "For some, good diplomacy is to engage in pleasantries and bow down to the big ones," he said.
(snip/...)

http://www.buenosairesherald.com/argentina/note.jsp?idContent=223489
(Free registration required)

[thebigidea]

1. explain it? How about "woof woof."

[John Q. Citizen]

6. More like yap yap!

[IndianaGreen]

2. Perhaps Fox should have been referred to as another poodle

Fox took offense to being referred to as a puppy.

Who cares, this sob is leaving office soon anyway!

[murray hill farm]

8. True..he will leave office soon...and popular political leanings..

in mexico are to the leftish now...and hopefully will continue through the election next year. Mexico is soooooooooo connected economically to the usa..and so geographically close...that it will take longer here than in the south americas, but it will come.

[madeline_con]

3. "... called Mexican President Vicente Fox "a puppy" ....

"President Néstor Kirchner....suggesting Fox was a US puppet."

It's the translators! They're screwing up! Puppy, puppet, easy mistake...

[arcos]

4. No....

He said "cachorro", puppy in Spanish.

[madeline_con]

5. I was being a smart aleck.... n/t

[anotherdrew]

7. wait a minute...

..."Fox, a conservative who has been close to Washington"...

Fox was not called a conservative when he was elected. He's pulled a blair-180 clearly bush has both countries by the balls and probably made some dire threats, or didn't even need to say anything. Fox seems mostly to just try to keep his head down and go unnoticed. Blair and Fox both let their countries down. All because bush told them to. I don't know what you could call that but "puppet"

[Bacchus39]

9. "standing up to the IMF" Argentina threatened not to pay their loan

back unless the IMF gave them still more money.

[400Years]

10. The IMF imposed austerity measures destroyed their economy

Just like it has done in so many other countries. Give out huge loans to a country while they have a corrupt leader and then when the bill comes due make them sell off all of their assets. Neoliberal savagery at its best. They have every right to tell the IMF to fuck off.

[Bacchus39]

13. sure they do, but don't come back asking for more money

they don't have to accept the money.

[400Years]

15. link? I want to know exactly what you are talking about

[Bacchus39]

16. here is a link, and a key passage

http://www.upi.com/inc/view.php?StoryID=20030114-031417-4164r

from the link: Argentine officials have been playing hardball on loan payments to multilateral lenders since October, saying they would no longer meet debt obligations unless the IMF came through with a new loan deal.

[400Years]

17. So Kirchner shouldn't act on the behalf of his country?

They have to find a way to extricate themselves from the mess that was made in the 90's.

Here is another link and key passage:

http://www.counterpunch.org/burbach12302004.html

Kirchner and the IMF have fought fiercely over the terms of new loans and the repayment of the country's international debt. In an agreement with the IMF last year, he insisted that no more than three per cent of the budget would be used to pay down the debt. The poor and unemployed had to be a priority ­ as well as public investment. The IMF reluctantly agreed to these terms. Since then the Argentine economy has bounced back and is on track to post an 8 per cent growth rate in 2004. Now the Fund wants to increase the country's debt repayments, citing increased growth as a reason to siphon more money from the economy.

[Bacchus39]

18. of course he should, but does that mean taking on

more loans?? that is the question Argentina needs to decide.

the IMF is essentially a bank, take out a loan and you have to pay it back according to their terms

[400Years]

20. They had to restructure the debt

And getting new loans to pay off older less favorably conditioned loans is part of Argentina's strategy of getting out of this mess.

Here's a good article from the Economist that explains the situation in a little more detail:

http://www.economist.com/agenda/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3351046

This is what the IMF and World Bank get for pushing it's neoliberal agenda in the first place.

[Bacchus39]

22. OK, that is the path they have chosen

so be it. but as I said originally, you take out the loans, you pay them back.

[readmylips]

11. Saw Chavez' reparts on Spanish TV....

from what I could understand, Chavez was putting VFox to shame. Fox follows the dictates of the US and bush, and ignores the poverty and suffering of the Mexican people. I love Chavez for taking on Fox and telling the truth of why Mexico, a beautiful country with rich culture, never progresses like Canada. Mexico (brown people)has always been under the foot for the US. Vicente Fox is an old friend of the Bushes.

[Loonman]

12. Backwards

It's Bush who's the puppy for Vicente Fox.

[daleo]

14. Can Fox by Bush's puppy?

I thought Blair had that job sewn up. Wait, that's poodle. I guess Fox can be a puppy. Blair's all grown up, joined Bush's war and everything, arf, arf.

[Little Star]

19. Hugo could have called him worse

Fox is a chimp ass kisser just like the poodle. Hope they all have fleas.

[makeanoise]

21. Mexico? What, wait!

I thought that was Tony Blair's role!