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The King tells Chavez to shut up

05:27 H | Topics: Controversia - Latin America - Spain - World

I´m not lost! Just trapped in a world of dial-up connections. Greetings from Spain, where the news piece of the week is how, at the Summit of the Americas in Santiago, King Juan Carlos of Spain -- normally tranquil and silent -- told Hugo Chavez to shut up after hearing him go on and on about Spain's ex-president, Jose Maria Aznar being a fascist:

Spanish press is reporting that, after the confrontation, the King left the room in protest. Then, Daniel Ortega, president of Nicaragua and close ally of Chavez, proceeded to get Hugo's back regarding the comments he made against the ex-president of Spain.

A few things make this incident so interesting: 1.) that the King never gets involved in political controversies and is considered an unflappable figure, making this a first in the history of his reign and 2.) Spanish president Zapatero, who appears first in the video defending the ex-president, is probably the last person you´d expect to do so. The ultra liberal ruling government and the former conservative party PP, of which the ex-president belongs, are mortal enemies. Some here commend Zapatero for defending Aznar for the sake of integrity while other say he shows no guts. For us it would be like Huguito calling Bush the devil then Hillary rushes to his defense.

In spite of Zapatero´s good intentions, the head of the opposition party, Mariano Rajoy, says that while the president's actions were "adequate", they "came too late" and that this type of show by Hugo Chavez is the result of the Spanish president's foreign policy and his "dangerous friendships" with Latin American leftist leaders.

Via / El País

Related

• Chavez: "I hope Merkel doesn't tell me to shut up" (Friday, May 16 2008)
• Venezuela Mad at Germany (Wednesday, May 14 2008)