Spanish King tells Chavez to shut up

Spain’s King Juan Carlos I told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to “just shut up,” bringing an Ibero-American summit to end in spectacular fashion on Saturday.

Spain’s monarch stormed out just before the scheduled end of the forum, visibly furious at Chavez’s description of his former prime minister as a “fascist” and for launching a wide-ranging tirade that could not be stopped.

The dispute was a dramatic finale for the 17th meeting of the heads of state and government of Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries in Latin America, and Spain, Portugal and Andorra, which started Thursday.

His description of Spain’s former conservative prime minister Jose-Maria Aznar as a “fascist” prompted current Prime Minister Jose-Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, a socialist, to call on Chavez to show more “respect.”

But Chavez forged on, and on Saturday he repeated the contentious f-word in relation to Aznar, adding: “A fascist isn’t human, a snake is more human than a fascist.”

An irate King Juan Carlos then stepped in, demanding of Chavez: “Why don’t you just shut up?”

But the Venezuelan leader carried on, attacking the United States (a favorite target of his), the Catholic Church in Venezuela and the pope.

He also accused the United States and Europe of having approved of the failed coup against him in 2002. Spain’s king then stormed out of the conference as Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega stepped up to support Chavez.

Chavez’ outburst and King Juan Carlos’ finger-pointing admonition to “shut up” was replayed again and again late Saturday on Spanish television news programs to the delight of viewers.

Santiago, Sunday, AFP