At the 17th Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile,
Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez replied to the King of Spain for the fact
that he told him to “shut up”, telling him that he knew about the 2002 coup
that briefly overthrew him from power.
According to Chavez, Spain’s ambassador supported interim President
of Venezuela, Pedro Carmona and showed up at Venezuela’s presidential palace
during the 2002 coup.
Chavez wanted to know how much King Juan Carlos was
involved.
He said: “Mr. King, did you know about the coup d'etat
against Venezuela, against
the democratic, legitimate government of Venezuela in 2002? 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,” the
Associated Press quotes.
During the summit from Saturday Chavez kept calling Jose
Maria, former Spanish Prime Minister a “fascist” and accused him for supporting
the 2002 coup.
He was asked by Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spain’s
current prime minister, to be more diplomatic and show respect for the
political leaders.
“Ex-president Aznar was elected by the Spanish people and I
demand respect. You can disagree radically with the ideas of others, denounce
their ideas and their behaviour without being disrespectful,” Financial Times
reports.
Although having his microphone off, Chavez kept interrupting
Zapaterro until King Juan Carlos, enraged, asked him loudly: “Why don't you
shut up?”
The Venezuelan leader is known for his instigative speeches,
this not being his first remark of this kind. In 2006 at the U.N. general
assembly he called President Bush the “devil.”
Chavez accused US for supporting the 2002 coup against him.
On April 13, 2002, U.S.
and Spanish ambassadors met with Carmona just hours before Chavez was restored
to power.
Chavez thinks that the incident was exaggerated by the
media.
As he left his hotel room he said: “I hope this will not damage
relations. But I think it’s imprudent for a king to shout at a president to
shut up. Mr. King, we are not going to shut up,” the Associated Press reports.
