Chavez Calls for Shadow G-20 Summit in Venezuela (Update1)

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said today's G-20 summit in Washington isn't likely to produce solutions for poor countries, and said he will host his own meeting of Latin American nations in Caracas.

Members of Chavez's Petrocaribe alliance, which can buy Venezuelan oil with subsidized financing, and his Alba trade bloc, which was conceived as an alternative to a hemispheric free-trade deal proposed by the U.S., will be invited to the meeting, Chavez said today in comments broadcast by state television. "I doubt that they'll come up with any solutions that will help us from Washington,'' he said during a political rally for his socialist party.

The Group of 20 heads of state is holding a two-day summit in Washington to discuss measures to mitigate a possible global recession. Chavez, a frequent critic of U.S. economic and foreign policy, said he'll be watching the event closely.