Mood swings, handshakes and song end Andean crisis
SANTO DOMINGO (Reuters) - The insults grew so intense at a showdown among Latin American presidents after a weeklong crisis that Argentina's female president teased her male counterparts for suffering menstrual mood swings.
But after hours of angry glares and finger-jabbing barbs, all it took was a sudden handshake at a Dominican Republic summit to end the region's worst dispute in years.
For a week, conservative Colombian President Alvaro Uribe traded accusations such as liar, drug trafficker and genocide sponsor with his leftist counterparts from Venezuela and Ecuador in a dispute that sparked diplomatic breaks with Colombia after its troops raided into Ecuador.
Argentine President Cristina Fernandez changed the tone at the summit. As Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa and Uribe clashed over the military attack that killed a rebel boss, she cut short the bickering and drew giggles with a deft blow at their machismo.
"Women have always been accused of going a bit crazy and a bit hysterical during certain times of the month," she said during her summit address, breaking the tension as chuckles rippled through the delegates.
"I have to say some of the scenes here make me think we should say women are the most rational people on the planet," she said.
That set in motion a mood swing that meant the summit finished with jokes, hugs and even a song from Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez.
Even before the summit, Uribe set himself apart by not participating in the official photograph of the presidents.
Tensions began to boil over when Uribe addressed delegates in the Dominican Foreign Ministry building, reading from documents found on a dead Marxist rebel's computer he said showed evidence of ties to leftist Correa.
Across the room, Correa smiled disdainfully and shook his head. At one point, he told a glaring Uribe to "calm down, President."
"Don't use the cynicism of those nostalgic for communism on me," retorted Uribe, a free-market proponent and U.S. ally in contrast to his socialist neighbors.
After one Uribe remark, Correa disappeared and triggered a flurry of questions from the participants about whether he had left the building in protest.
It was just a bathroom break.
Even Chavez, a firebrand known for lambasting foes, took on a more conciliatory tone as the day wore on.
After the summit host, Dominican President Leonel Fernandez, suggested they make up in public, Uribe strolled around the hall grasping hands with Correa and Chavez, who just hours early had been talking about aggressive acts of war.
Chavez sang for reporters in high-pitched whine about the host's Caribbean island and declared: "We are happy. Peace!"
(Editing by Fiona Ortiz, Saul Hudson and Peter Cooney)
