Hugo Chavez insults Angela Merkel

CARACAS, Venezuela, May 12 (UPI) -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has lashed out at German Chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of her trip to Latin America.

"She is from the German Right, the same that supported Hitler, that supported fascism, that's the chancellor of Germany today," Chavez said Sunday, according to the German daily Bild.

Merkel Tuesday embarks on a one-week Latin America trip that will take her to Brazil, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, where the European Union-Latin America summit takes place next week.

Chavez apparently was mad at Merkel, who had said the leftist Venezuelan president wasn't the voice of the continent.

He stopped short of telling Merkel where to go.

"Ms. Chancellor, you can go to ... ," he said, adding, "because she's a woman, I won't say anything else."

Chavez in the past has called U.S. President George W. Bush "the devil" and in 2007 drew a "Why don't you shut up" from Spanish King Juan Carlos.