MEXICO CITY, (AFP) – Mexican authorities yesterday accused Venezuela of becoming a major new transit point for illegal heroin trafficking, heightening a war of words after the withdrawal of their ambassadors.

In a statement, the prosecutor general said that flights from Venezuela to Mexican airports had become “a new route” for drug trafficking.

Noe Ramirez, the prosecutor in charge of drug investigations, said that this year 10 of the 11 seizures of heroin from Venezuela were made at airports in Mexico City and Juarez, a city on the northern border with the United States.

There was no immediate response from Venezuela, which says it is making major strides against drugs.

Traditionally, illegal opiates have entered Mexico on land routes, Ramirez said, but added that authorities had noticed a change in the narcotics trade.

He said the 11 airport heroin seizures – which also included one from Chile – weighed a combined 107.6 kilos (237 pounds).

Ramirez said that in 2004, there were seven airport seizures on seven flights from Chile and two from Brazil.

Ramirez held a press conference about the drug figures on Monday. He denied there was any political link to his statement, and said he was only pointing out that Venezuela had become an important transit hub for drugs. He also called for stricter checks on passengers at Caracas airport.

His press conference was held on the day that the two countries withdrew their ambassadors amid a mounting row over comments by Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez, criticising Mexico’s President Vicente Fox.

Venezuela ordered its ambassador, Vladimir Villegas, home Monday, and the Mexican government, which demanded an apology after Chavez warned Fox: “Don’t mess with me,” also called home its ambassador, Enrique Loaeza y Tovar, from Caracas.

Tensions spilled over after the Summit of the Americas earlier this month in Argentina, where Fox defended the US plan for a Free Trade Area of the Americas and Chavez proclaimed the idea dead.

“Fox and Chavez are both serving important domestic political purposes for each other,” said professor Harley Shaiken, who heads the Center for Latin American Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.

“For Chavez, Fox is a surrogate of the United States in Latin America,” Shaiken said. “For Fox, coming on against Chavez is low-cost, since he’s in his last year (in office), weakened at home… Standing firm on anything offers him possible gains,” the professor said.

Venezuela angrily rejected Mexico’s demand that it apologise for statements by Chavez, who has called the Mexican president “a lapdog” of the United States.

Last week, Chavez accused Fox of being a “puppy” of US interests. On Sunday, he used his weekly TV and radio show to warn Fox: “Don’t mess with me, sir, because you’ll get stung.”

Fox retorted in an interview with CNN en Espanol: “We can’t allow people to offend our country.”

Meanwhile, Aguilar said the withdrawal of ambassadors didn’t mean cutting off ties completely because business and cultural relations would remain.

Chavez has accused Fox of being disrespectful to him and Argentine President Nestor Kirchner, who hosted the recent summit.

Mexico had said Chavez’s latest remark “strikes at the dignity of the Mexican people and government”.

Aguilar also criticised Chavez for replaying videos of internal summit debates during his weekend program, calling it “an illegal act”.