The Venezuelan Government Thursday rebuked the "electoral use" of President Hugo Chávez' image by Mexican ruling party Partido Acción Nacional (PAN.)

"They are using, out of context, the image of a President in an electoral campaign. That is what we are rejecting, the use for electoral purposes, rather than what Chávez said or did not say," Venezuelan Foreign Affairs vice-minister Pável Rondón told official TV channel VTV, as quoted by Efe.
  
Rondón's comments came in relation to a PAN electoral propaganda that compares President Chávez to leftist Mexican presidential candidate Andrés López Obrador.

Rondón added that such electoral campaign, where Chávez is used as a weapon against López Obrador, would not bear fruit, as the leftist candidate is the favorite presidential hopeful.

He argued that Chávez' image helps candidates gain ballots among the Latin American popular classes, rather than driving away voters.
  
"In Latin America we are accused of sponsoring, funding candidates, but what we are actually sponsoring is a different world," Rondón stressed.