Andes tensions spawn Chavez Voodoo doll

Diplomatic tensions between Colombia and Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez have generated fierce rhetoric, political protests and even troop movements along the frontier between the Andean neighbours. Now a Colombian designer has come up with an idea he hopes will create a humorous way to deal with local anger over the man many in his country consider a threat to national security: a fake Chavez Voodoo doll complete with a set of needles. An idea sure to enrage many Venezuelans who see Chavez as a saviour who has empowered his country's poor, the 'Chavez Personal Voodoo Doll' is a cushion with a printed likeness of the anti-US leader and is sold in two Bogota boutiques for US$6 ($8.05). 'People ask if this is not an aggressive thing, but I think it is really the opposite,' said the doll's creator, Nicolas Mendoza. 'It's better for people to stab a pin into a cloth doll than do some real violence.'