Thousands of supporters of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez marched in Caracas on Saturday to support the leftist leader in his dispute with Mexico's president over U.S. free trade proposals. State workers, unionists and students, many wearing red T-shirts, waved flags and anti-U.S. placards as they marched through the capital accompanied by trucks blaring revolutionary songs, Venezuelan folk ballads and Mexican mariachi music."I'm an anti-imperialist and Mexico's government shouldn't take the position they have, they are a poor people just like us," said real estate broker Zaida Gutierrez, carrying a "Bush: Assassin, terrorist" placard.
Kos must've opened a branch office in Caracas
Banners reading "Against Yankee imperialism and its lackey Fox" and "Respect Venezuela" fluttered alongside posters of Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata and Che Guevara.
The diplomatic spat between Venezuela and Mexico underscored divisions in Latin America over U.S. proposals for a region-wide free trade zone and the growing gulf between the United States and Venezuela, the world's No. 5 oil exporter. Since Chavez was elected in 1998, ties between the United States and Venezuela have steadily deteriorated though Venezuela still supplies about 15 percent of U.S. oil imports.
The spat between Mexico and Venezuela broke out after the leaders met at the Summit of the Americas in Argentina to discuss the U.S.-backed Free Trade Area for the Americas. Fox accused Argentina's left-leaning President Nestor Kirchner of bowing to opinion polls rather than pressing for a trade deal and criticized Chavez's ideology.
Chavez blasted Fox as a "lap dog of the empire" and the two governments hardened their stances and withdrew their ambassadors. Caracas says Mexico must now take the initiative in resolving the dispute, but Mexico insists on an apology.