Ground Report

The King of Spain Juan Carlos publicly asked Chavez to shut up when he tried to interrupt the closing speech of Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero at the Ibero-American summit, Saturday. "Why don’t you shut up?" the king shouted at Chavez, pointing a finger at the president when he tried to interrupt a speech by Spanish premier. Zapatero was in the middle of a speech at the summit of mostly leftist leaders from Latin America, Portugal, Spain and Andorra and was criticizing Chavez for calling former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist. "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 told the leaders gathered in the Chilean capital, Santiago. "You can disagree radically, without being disrespectful," Zapatero, a socialist, said firmly, drawing applause from some sections of the crowd.