Mexican President Vicente Fox's office said Tuesday it would no longer get involved in the diplomatic flap between Mexico and Venezuela that prompted both countries to withdraw their ambassadors.

"For us, the case is now closed," Fox spokesman Ruben Aguilar said. "We hope that in coming weeks and months, relations cool off so that we can re-establish them to their highest level."

The dispute began last week when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez called Fox a "puppy" of the United States. Tensions escalated on Sunday when Chavez warned his Mexican counterpart during a six-hour radio and television broadcast: "Don't mess with me, sir, because you'll get stung."

Fox demanded an apology or said Mexico would recall its ambassador to Venezuela. Caracas promptly ordered its ambassador home to protest what Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez called an unjustified ultimatum by Mexico.

"We don't have to offer apologies, just as we didn't ask for them when statements against President Chavez came out" at the recent Summit of the Americas in Argentina, Venezuelan Ambassador Vladimir Villegas told state television after arriving early Tuesday in Caracas.

Chavez and Fox clashed at the summit over the US plan for a Free Trade Area of the Americas, which Fox supports and Chavez vehemently opposes.

Mexican government officials have insisted that the recall of ambassadors does not mean Venezuela and Mexico have severed ties completely since trade and cultural relations remain unchanged.

However, another Fox spokesman said on condition of anonymity that Fox would not respond to further comments by Chavez, instead leaving negotiations to re-establish diplomatic ties between the two countries to Mexico's foreign secretary. The official requested anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak on the record.

Fox had responded personally to Chavez's remarks on Monday in an interview with CNN en Espanol: "We can't allow people to offend our country."

Although Fox still insisted Monday on an apology, Aguilar suggested Tuesday that relations could improve by other means.

"It's necessary to calm relations, but there are many ways to do that," he told The Associated Press. "There are many ways to lessen the aggression on the part of the Venezuelan government."

Chavez, who took office in 1999, has had his share of diplomatic clashes.

Tensions arose with Chile in 2003 after Chavez suggested landlocked Bolivia should have access to the Pacific Ocean — something it lost in a war with Chile in the 1800s. A dispute with Colombia arose in January over the capture of a Colombian rebel in Caracas, which Chavez said violated Venezuelan sovereignty.

In both cases, tensions quickly dissipated as leaders opted for diplomacy. But the dispute between Chavez and Fox shows no signs of going away.

Carlos Blanco, a political analyst in Caracas, said Fox is in a better position to answer Chavez's verbal attacks than many other nations because Mexico — unlike the United States and much of Central America — does not rely on Venezuela for oil.

"It seems that this time Chavez picked the wrong person to fight with," Blanco said. "Mexico is historically a country that generates sympathy in Latin America, exactly the opposite from the United States."

But Adolfo Salgueiro, a Venezuelan professor of international law, said Chavez kept criticizing Fox and pushed the dispute to a higher level because the international stakes weren't very high.

"Fighting with Fox, whose government ends next year and whose party has little possibility of re-election, doesn't have major consequences," Salgueiro said.

Fox's six-year term ends in December 2006 and he is barred by law from running again. His conservative National Action Party's presidential candidate, Felipe Calderon, trails badly in public opinion polls to replace him ahead of elections next summer.

(Chinadaily.com via agencies November 16, 2005)