BETTY CORTINA Herald Staff Writer

Two Hialeah mayoral candidates exchanged more than words at a radio station debate Wednesday afternoon -- one allegedly spat in the other's face. "This guy is crazy," former state Rep. Nilo Juri said of suspended Hialeah Mayor Raul Martinez . "He stood up as though he wanted to punch me, but instead he spat."

Salvatore D'Angelo, another mayoral candidate at the WQBA- AM debate, said he saw the incident during a commercial break.

"It was embarrassing," D'Angelo said.

Juri said Martinez was calling him obscene names and trying to intimidate him during a break at the beginning of the show.

Martinez declined to comment, but his wife, Angela, denied the charge, saying her husband only "blew" in Juri's face.

She said the two were arguing and Juri got up from his chair, pulled off his jacket and stood threateningly in front of Martinez.

"He was trying to provoke him, to set him up," said Angela Martinez, who did not attend the debate. But Martinez "wasn't going to hit him and he didn't spit in his face."

Angela Martinez said Juri also "blew" into her husband's face and said "Back at you."

Agustin Acosta, one of the two debate moderators, said he left the studio before the confrontation. "I didn't see anything," he said.

Agustin Tamargo, the other moderator, did not return several phone calls.