Caracas - Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez accused German Chancellor Angela Merkel of groundlessly bombarding him "with stones" on Wednesday, continuing a war of words between the two leaders. While on a visit to an oil field in the central state of Guarico with Portugal's Prime Minister Jose Socrates, Chavez said he had made those comments to President Lula da Silva of Brazil in a telephone conversation.
"He (Lula) said to me that he would equally receive the German Chancellor. And I said, please greet her from me. She comes here and throws stones, for reasons I do not know, some European heads of state come in order to meet with us, and already before their arrival are throwing stones."
The tit for tat between the Venezuela and German leader started when Merkel told Deutsche Presse-Agentur