lima, peru -- The appearance of donated cans of tuna with labels containing the image of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and a condemnation of the Peruvian government as "heartless" caused a political storm here Monday in the midst of an already controversial earthquake relief effort.
"One has to ask who is behind this," President Alan Garcia said after a Lima newspaper reported that the polemical tins were being distributed in the quake-ravaged region south of the capital. "This is not the moment to take advantage of the circumstances to make electoral propaganda."
The Venezuelan ambassador to Peru denied his government was to blame and said the whole affair was probably part of a dirty-tricks campaign to discredit the fiery socialist leader. "This is a damaging manipulation, a vile manipulation because Venezuela has brought humanitarian aid, not party politics," Ambassador Jose Armando Laguna told CPN Radio in Lima. "If they want, they can go and open all the bags that [Venezuela] brought and verify there is no political propaganda."
Venezuela and other Latin American nations have shipped tons of food, medical supplies and other relief to Peru, where Wednesday's quake left more than 500 dead and tens of thousands homeless. Garcia publicly thanked Chavez despite their well-known mutual antipathy.
There was no indication how many cans of the tuna had been handed out.
The tuna-can caper was first reported in the right-wing Lima daily Expreso, which has an anti-Chavez editorial line. And the heated exchange reflects what some analysts view as a division of South America into pro-Chavez and anti-Chavez camps. Peru's Garcia, a strong ally of Washington, is at the forefront of a U.S.-backed bloc cool to the Venezuelan leader.
Garcia was elected president last year in a runoff against Ollanta Humala, a former army officer whom Garcia repeatedly branded a Chavez lackey.
During the campaign, Garcia accused Chavez of interference in Peru's affairs, and the two exchanged a round of nasty insults. The two presidents have since reconciled to some extent, but Garcia has remained extremely wary of Chavez.
Humala remains a political force, especially in the impoverished Andean highlands.
Humala's image appeared alongside Chavez's on the tuna tins. The labels also bore the logo of Humala's Nationalist Party.
