Spanish King to Venezuelan Prez: Shut Up!

Summit simmers when King Juan Carlos snaps at hectoring Chavez
By Katherine Thompson,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 11, 2007 7:26 AM CST
Spanish King to Venezuelan Prez: Shut Up!
In this picture released by Cumbre Iberoamericana Spain's Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, center, Spanish King Juan Carlos, right, and Cuba's Foreign Minister Perez Roque, left, are seen during the last working session of the XVII Iberoamerican Summit in Santiago, Saturday, Nov. 10, 2007....   (Associated Press)

World leaders at the Ibero-American summit had a grade-school exchange yesterday, with Spain's King Juan Carlos pulling out a "why don't you shut up" when Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez wouldn't wait his turn to talk. Chavez ignored requests to be more polite after calling a former Spanish prime minister a "fascist," adding that even "a snake is more human" than fascists," reports the BBC.

While the current Spanish prime minister pointed out that his predecessor had been democratically elected, Chavez repeatedly interrupted. That's when the king interjected. Chavez said later he has the "right to respond to any aggression, anywhere, in any space and in any manner." The theme of this year's 22-nation conference in Chile was "social cohesion." (More Hugo Chavez stories.)

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