Chile president asks Venezuela's Chavez for respect

Santiago, Apr 14: Chile's president told fiery Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to watch his mouth after he described the Chilean Senate as controlled by fascists.

Chile's Senate agreed this week to ask President Michelle Bachelet to protest to the Organization of American States Chavez's withdrawal of a broadcast license to a private television channel critical of his government.

The move prompted Chavez, who normally describes himself as an ally of Chile, to say Chile's Senate was dominated by the fascist right, responsible over the years for dictatorships, disappearances and genocide.

Bachelet responded yesterday by asking him to show some ''respect'' for Chile-Venezuela relations.

''This is a relationship of friendship and it requires that the relation not be muddied by gestures or words which in our judgment go in the opposite direction,'' a very serious Bachelet said at a news conference.

Chavez is known for his acerbic attacks on US President George W Bush, whom he has called the devil, a donkey and a drunkard. He has also had rocky relations with some Latin American leaders, including Peruvian President Alan Garcia, whom he called corrupt last year.

Bachelet has in her year in government maintained a good-to-neutral relationship with Venezuela and will attend an Energy summit at the Venezuelan resort island of Margarita next week.

Reuters