Chavez Says Bush Left Summit, 'With Tail Between His Legs'

Venezuelan President was in rare form during his weekly TV and radio show on Sunday, attacking Mexico's President Vicente Fox for his support of the U.S-sponsored Free Trade Area of the America's and, according to this article from Venezuela's El Universal, saying that President Bush left the Summit, 'with his tail between his legs, by the back door.'

November 13, 2005

Original Article (Spanish)    

Caracas: On his weekly TV and radio show, Hello, Mr. President, Hugo Ch…vez, the President of the Republic, warned his Mexican colleague Vicente Fox ð"not to mess with him," while showing videos of the discussions at the recent 4th Summit of Americas at Mar Del Plata, during which differences emerged over the Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA).

—BBC NEWS VIDEO: Chavez Attacks Mexican President Vicente Fox for His Support of President Bush, November 14, 00:01:25

Chavez insisted that the FTAA was dead and "buried by the people," and criticized the chief executives that supported the U.S.-sponsored proposal, while he promoted the position of MERCOSUR (Common Market of the South, comprised of Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), which is to proceed with caution in regard to the FTAA.

Chavez said that Fox attacked the President of Argentina, Nestor Kirchner, for his decision to oppose the FTAA, and insisted that the Mexican president was "bleeding from his wound'' due to the results of the meeting.

'"You know that I responded to President Fox. President Fox. I told him that there is a song from the plains. It's about Florentino, who fought the devil, and it goes like this: 'I am like a thorny bush that lies on the Savanah, I give off perfume to those who pass by, and prick those who shake me. Don't mess with me Mr., because you'll end up getting pricked," Chavez said.

He added that Fox had "reiterated" in his speech,'' his support for the FTAA, backed up by a bloc made up of Canada, Trinidad and Tobago and Panama.

"How sad that the President of the Great country of Mexico lets himself become the puppy dog of the empire."

Chavez presented video segments of Fox's speech, and said that Kirchner had answered back that he had raised an issue that wasn't on the agenda.

''You see that in the speech he keeps repeating ÷ the plan that was begun by Canada the day before, and then Patrick Manning (The leader of Trinity and Tobago) and then Fox,'' he pointed out.ð

He added that Fox soon attacked Kirchner, blaming him for the failure of the Summit, and the Argentine President responded by saying that some understand success to be the bowing of our heads before the powerful [ie: Washington].

"Soon he said to me (Fox) that I had spoken for the cameras, and that I had gotten carried away by the euphoria, by the show, by things that aren't serious. Later he said that Chavez was put in a corner during the real debate. That although I was cornered, I had remained a gentleman," Chavez asserted.

As he had promised to do days before, Ch…vez showed segments from some of the untelevised Summit speeches on his TV and Radio program, and he said that the regional broadcaster Telesur would certainly be carrying them.

The segments he showed had, on the one hand, the Presidents of the United States, George W. Bush, [Vicente] Fox and [Patrick] Manning, and on the other, the chief executive of Brazil, Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva; of Uruguay, Tabar» V…zquez, Kirchner and himself.

He said that while the presidents of MERCOSUR made a point of the inequalities created by free trade and agricultural subsidies, the rest supported the American FTAA proposal.

"For me, the FTAA is buried, buried by the people. The world has seen the proof of the FTAA's demise" he said.

Ch…vez also commented on Bush's speech, accusing him of seeking to blackmail the other chief executives, seeking to impose his plan - his "defect" by way of "mini FTAAs," by reaching separate agreements with smaller groups of countries in the region.

"It is the old imperial strategy of divide and rule. The United States said that if the Summit document did not contain its proposal, if the world got the message that we didn't want this proposal, then it would turn to blackmail. Gentleman, your proposal (on renewed FTAA negotiations) was not included in the document; it was defeated, sir. Knockout, gentleman. Knockout, Sir!" Chavez stressed.

Chavez declared that that Bush had left the Summit with "his tail between his legs, by the back door, and left defending the indefensible."

He affirmed that during the Summit, he noticed the intention of the United States to, "run roughshod over and impose its views because it has a supposed majority."