SANTIAGO - Spain's King Juan Carlos told Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up" during closing speeches by leaders from the Latin world and brought the Ibero-American summit to an acrimonious end.
"Why don't you shut up?" the King shouted at Chavez, pointing a finger at the Presidentwhen he tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.
Zapatero was in the middle of a speech at the summit of mostly leftist leaders from Latin America, Portugal, Spain and Andorra, and was criticising Chavez for calling former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist.
Chavez, a leading leftist foe of Washington, had earlier attacked Spanish businessman Gerardo Diaz Ferran after he questioned the safety of foreign investments in Venezuela.
Chavez, a former soldier, is well-known for fiery speeches laden with rhetoric, bravado and insults - often aimed at the Administration of US President George W. Bush.
Referring to Aznar yesterday, Chavez said: "That former Spanish president ... was a true fascist, a true fascist."
The Spanish delegation was not impressed.
"I want to express to you, President Hugo Chavez, that in a forum where there are democratic governments ... one of the essential principles is respect," Zapatero said sternly, drawing applause from some of the other heads of state.
Chavez said later the Spanish had come out of the verbal spat looking bad.
"The one who looked bad there was the one who lost control, who told us to shut up as if we were still subjects from the 17th, 18th centuries," hesaid.
Chavez, who has used his country's oil wealth to spread his self-styled socialist revolution, made his mark on the three-day summit from the start, announcing his arrival last week with defiant lyrics from a Mexican ballad.
CHAVEZ VS REST
* United States President George W. Bush: a "donkey."
* US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice: an "illiterate."
* Former Mexican President Vicente Fox: a "lapdog of imperialism."
* Former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar: a "true fascist, a true fascist."
