Former Peruvian President and current presidential candidate Alan García warned that Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has launched a strategy to dominate South America, by supporting a number of presidential hopefuls in the region.

"A strategy to dominate South American countries is under way based on Venezuelan oil, the political model of Mr. Chávez, who in some countries uses his active and verbal support for some candidates as an instrument," García told radio station RPP.

In García's view, Chávez' political model "can only take us to a violent setback in the possibility to join world markets and the possibility to build important works such as the Inter-oceanic way."

He also rejected the fact that Bolivian ruler Evo Morales branded the salutation of his Peruvian counterpart Alejandro Toledo during a summit in Vienna over the weekend as "part of a buffoonery," AP reported.

"Both Chávez and Morales commonly use exaggerated terms at all times just to draw the attention," García added.