CARACAS, May 4 (Xinhua) -- Venezuela's ambassador to Peru said on Thursday that he hoped his return home would be "the last chapter" of the Venezuela-Peru diplomatic crisis which was triggered by an exchange of insults.

    Cruz Manuel Martinez told regional broadcaster Telesur in Caracas that following conversations with Venezuela's Foreign Minister Ali Rodriguez and President Hugo Chavez, he had arranged for the mission's first secretary to take charge of the embassy in Lima.

    Chavez decided to withdraw Martina from Lima late Wednesday, four days after Peru recalled its own ambassador to Caracas, Carlos Urrutia, who has already returned home.

    "The Peruvian government withdrew its ambassador. We are withdrawing ours," said Chavez, who said the recalling of the ambassador was "for the dignity of Venezuela."

    Peruvian President Alejandro Toledo recalled Urrutia after Chavez called Peruvian Presidential candidate Alan Garcia a "thief" and Toledo "a crocodile from the same well."

    Chavez's remarks were a response to Garcia's description of the Venezuelan president as a "scoundrel" for attacking Peru's free trade agreements with Washington while continuing selling his country's oil to the United States.

    On Wednesday, Chavez told media that "I don't think things should have gone this far, because this was a gratuitous attack onme by a candidate," Enditem