Calderon says Mexican Congress seizure ridiculous

NEW ORLEANS, April 22 (Reuters) - President Felipe Calderon accused leftist Mexican lawmakers on Tuesday of making a laughing stock of themselves by blocking Congress to protest against an energy reform plan.

Leftists seized podiums in both houses of Congress on April 10 to halt a government proposal to lower barriers to private investment in the oil sector, controlled by the state since 1938.

"I deplore their attitude which only impoverishes their image," conservative Calderon said at the end of summit with his U.S. and Canadian counterparts in New Orleans.

"Overcome by their own internal crisis, they are worsening their public image with behavior that is simply ridiculous," Calderon said.

The leftists say the plan amounts to a sneaking privatization of oil monopoly Pemex. They have slept in Congress every night in their protest and vowed to stay until Congress closes for the summer on April 30, unless Calderon's ruling National Action Party offers a four-month debate on the issue.

But the left-wing Party of the Democratic Revolution, the main opposition party, is split in bitter infighting over an inconclusive leadership vote and some legislators have called for an end to the Congress sit-in.

Mexico is the world's No. 6 producer of oil and a top U.S. supplier, but Pemex has been starved of investment for decades and production is declining. Future reserves lie in deep water in the Gulf of Mexico that are costly and difficult to reach.

(Editing by Cynthia Osterman)