Dueling presidentes: Chavez says Fox will be "stung"

November 15, 2005 -- Spat between Vicente Fox and Hugo Chavez involves Mexican presidential election. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Mexican President Vicente Fox a "lap dog for the empire" over the Mexican leader's support for George W. Bush's dead-on-arrival Free Trade Area of the Americas. It is clear that the Bush administration relishes the resulting diplomatic spat between two of Latin America's major oil producers. As Venezuela and Mexico recalled their ambassadors from each other's capitals, Chavez warned Fox that if he didn't let up, he would be "stung."

Fox is clearly worried about the 10 point lead in presidential election polls of progressive former Mexico City mayor Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, an ally of Chavez. Obrador leads Roberto Madrazo, of the main opposition Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI), a party with a long history of corruption, in polls for next year's presidential election. Fox's National Action Party candidate, Felipe Calderon, trails a distant third, a fact that clearly rankles Fox. '

Obrador and Bolivia's populist leader, Evo Morales, stand a good chance of being elected presidents of their countries and joining Chavez in an anti-Bush bloc of Latin American states that will also encompass Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Cuba. Nicaragua's Sandinistas are also poised to make a comeback.