Relations have been strained between Mexico and Venezuela since the conclusion of the free trade summit of the Americas. The precise issue at stake: Free Trade. This Sunday, Chavez on his radio program launched a huge hurl of insults directed at President Vicente Fox, resulting in demands from Mexico for an apology within 24 hours:

Academic Elephant puts it best here:

President Fox has demanded a formal apology and threatened to downgrade diplomatic relations with Caracas. Good for him. Chavez should learn that not all of central and Latin America will roll over for his petrodollars and that his gross theatrics have consequences in the civilized world.

Now, it’s been announced from Venezuela that Chavez has preempted that Mexican ultimatum to apologize by withdrawing his ambassador from Mexico City first. Trade and cultural ties will not be affected but the gesture is strong enough as a symbol of the tattered relations between the pro- and anti-free trade forces in the region.

Miguel has the most real-time coverage here (just keep scrolling).

Daniel has the perfectly ordered sequences of events, handily laid out in convenient bullets for easy reading here.

El Universal (Mexico) account is here and El Universal (Venezuela) account is here. (The two papers are unrelated.)

UPDATE: Gateway Pundit has great photos and much more here.

UPDATE: Fausta at Bad Hair Blog has another excellent roundup here.