Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez behaved well during the European Union – Latin America and the Caribbean (EU-LAC) summit in Lima, Peruvian media stressed earlier this month.
The press had feared Chavez’s trademark attacks on colleagues, which have often had him clash with Peruvian President Alan Garcia and which in recent days saw him in a row with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
But Chavez sealed his reconciliation with Merkel at the May 16-17 summit.
PHOTO : AFP
El Comercio, the most prestigious Peruvian daily, titled its piece on Chavez The bad boy managed to behave well.
“Despite his reputation for unpleasantness, Chavez was one of the leaders who made the most of the platforms for negotiation with other heads of state,” El Comercio noted.
For example, Chavez sought to win over center-left Paraguayan president-elect Fernando Lugo, a former Roman Catholic bishop.
“You are young. You look older on television,” Chavez told Lugo when they met in Lima for the first time.
However, Lugo has so far declined to join the pro-Chavez camp of regional politics, and stressed at a press conference that he is close to “progressive” governments like those of Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile and Uruguay, Paraguay’s closest neighbors.
The only man that Chavez attacked in Lima was Colombian President Alvaro Uribe. The two have had a long-standing clash.
“I cannot talk to Uribe. In order to do that, I would have to go down into a swamp, and I do not go down into swamps,” Chavez said.
El Comercio noted that the Venezuelan reserved three floors at the luxury hotel Casa Andina, ordered four bottles of blue-label whisky, filled his room with security cameras and asked that only his personal cook prepare him meals.
Chavez was reportedly accompanied by two small dogs and a very large painting of South American independence hero Simon Bolivar.(DPA)
秘魯媒體本月稍早強調，委內瑞拉總統雨果．查維茲出席在秘魯利馬舉行的歐盟—拉丁美洲與加勒比海地區高峰會議（簡稱EU-LAC）時，表現得相當得體。
媒體原本擔心愛罵人出了名的查維茲又會批評其他國家元首。他曾多次和秘魯總統艾倫．賈西亞爆發衝突，前陣子還與德國總理安琪拉．梅克爾發生口角。
但查維茲在本月十六至十七日舉行的高峰會上，和梅克爾握手言和。
秘魯最知名日報《商報》為查維茲的新聞下了這樣的標題：壞男孩表現得體。
《商報》提到：「儘管他以容易和人發生爭執出名，但查維茲仍是最能和其他國家元首建立協商管道的領袖之一。」
他企圖拉攏中間偏左的巴拉圭準總統費南度．盧戈（曾擔任天主教主教），就是一個很好的例子。
他們在利馬第一次會面時，查維茲對盧戈說：「你本人比電視上看起來年輕多了。」
但盧戈至今仍婉拒加入由查維茲主導的區域性政治陣營，他還在一場記者會上強調，他和阿根廷、玻利維亞、巴西、智利及巴拉圭鄰國烏拉圭一樣，都傾向「改革派」政府。
查維茲在利馬會議期間唯一批評的是哥倫比亞總統艾韋羅．尤瑞比，兩人長久以來衝突不斷。
查維茲說：「我沒辦法和尤瑞比交談，因為如果要跟他碰面，我得跑到沼澤地去，但我並不想進去。」
《商報》報導，查維茲與會期間下榻豪華酒店「Casa Andina」，他包下其中三層樓，訂了四瓶藍標威士忌，並在住房內裝滿監視錄影機，還要求只有他的御廚能為他準備餐點
據報，隨行的還有兩隻小狗，以及一張南美獨立英雄西蒙．波利瓦的巨幅畫像。
（德通社�翻譯：袁星塵）
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