I’m a bit late on reporting this, but I’m going to pretend that I’m not.

There was a heated exchange between President Chavez of Venezuela and King Juan Carlos of Spain on Saturday when Chavez repeatedly referred to the former Prime Minister of Spain, Jose Maria Aznar, as a “fascist” during the XVII Ibero-American Summit.

Aznar was a pro-Bush prime minister and supported America’s imperialistic Iraq War, along with the failed US-backed coup against Chavez in 2002. After Chavez was overthrown, despite being the democratically-elected President of Venezuela, Aznar tried to gather Latin American support for the new US puppet regime. You can understand why Chavez might describe such a man as a “fascist”.

After Chavez’s speech, Spain’s current Prime Minister, Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero, told Hugo that he should be more diplomatic. President Chavez tried to interject, but his mic was cut off. This led to the king of Spain angrily lashing out at the Venezuelan President by saying, “Why don’t you shut up?” before leaving the chamber. Of course, Aznar is a fascist, but you don’t just come right out and speak the truth in politics. Who does this commie think he is?

The next day, Chavez spoke of the incident to a Spanish newspaper. He said he hoped the confrontation would not damage relations between the two countries, but reiterated; “Mr King, we are not going to shut up.” Chavez recalled the previous day: “They told me some Spanish officials grabbed him by the arm, because he’s strong and tall. He acted like an angry bull” as he stormed out. “I’m no bullfighter - but ole!”

Chavez suggested that King Juan Carlos was also aware of the 2002 coup since Spain’s ambassador immediately visited Venezuela to offer the king’s blessing to the interim president that replaced Chavez. “Mr King, did you know about the coup d’etat against Venezuela, against the democratic, legitimate government of Venezuela in 2002?” Chavez asked. “It’s very hard to imagine the Spanish ambassador would have been at the presidential palace supporting the coup-plotters without authorization from his majesty.”

Supporters of the Venezuelan president rallied in Caracas to show their support for Chavez over the weekend. One of the demonstrators said of the Spanish monarch, “He’s insolent. He has to respect a sovereign leader. The king is just a monarch and Spain has been sacking the people of Latin America for the past 500 years. President Chavez has more right to say what he pleases than the king because he was elected by the Venezuelan people.”

Western powers still have not given up on trying to bring down Chavez . He currently faces the threat of protests in his country from Washington-backed opposition groups.

h/t BoRev for the pic of the Spanish king after he apparently stepped out of a Velázquez painting.
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