The Ibero-American summit ended on an unusually heated note Saturday, when an angry verbal spat culminated with the king of Spain telling Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up."
Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez asks for permission to talk during the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile Saturday.
(Cumbre Iberoamericana/Associated Press)
Chavez, the outspoken leftist leader who called U.S. President George W. Bush "the devil" on the floor of the United Nations last year, triggered the exchange by repeatedly referring to former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar as a "fascist."
Aznar, a conservative and a close Bush ally who backed the U.S.-led war in Iraq, "is a fascist," Chavez said in a speech in Chile to leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. "Fascists are not human. A snake is more human."
Spain's current socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, responded during his own allotted time by urging Chavez to be more diplomatic in his words and respect other leaders despite political differences.
He said Aznar "was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a legitimate representative of the Spanish people," eliciting applause from the gathered heads of state.
Chavez repeatedly tried to interrupt, but his microphone was off.
Spanish King Juan Carlos, seated next to Zapatero, angrily turned to Chavez and said, "Why don't you shut up?"
The Venezuelan leader did not immediately respond, but later used time ceded to him by his close ally, Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, to answer Zapatero's speech.
"I do not offend by telling the truth," he said. "The Venezuelan government reserves the right to respond to any aggression, anywhere, in any space and in any manner."
Cuban Vice-President Carlos Lage backed Chavez, saying that "a president's legitimacy stems not only from his election by voters … he must also be legitimate in the exercise of power."
Related
More World Headlines »
- Karzai, Musharraf target Taliban
- The leaders of Afghanistan and Pakistan have begun a two-day meeting to talk about co-operating in the fight against insurgents based in the lawless border area between the two countries.
- Couple arrested in deaths of 6 people in rural Washington
- A man and a woman have been arrested in connection with the killing of six people believed to be family members at a rural property east of Seattle.
- French aid workers convicted of taking Chadian children
- Six French aid workers have been sentenced to eight years' forced labour by a court in Chad for trying to abduct children from the African country.
- Zoo officials investigate after teen dies in tiger attack
- Officials are trying to figure out how a tiger that killed a 17-year-old boy and injured two others got out of its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo, which police are now treating as a crime scene.
- Woman's death marks 16th bird flu fatality in Egypt
- A 25-year-old Egyptian woman has died of bird flu after she apparently contracted the disease from domestic fowl, a health official said Wednesday.
World Features
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - link will open in new window
