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Playing the Nationalist Card: Chavez Blasts Spanish King
Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit
Counterpunch - Nov 13, 2007
http://www.counterpunch.org/kozloff11132007.html
Playing the Nationalist Card:
Chavez Blasts the Spanish King
By NIKOLAS KOZLOFF
It's been almost two hundred years since Venezuela first declared its
independence from Spain, but over the past few days Hugo Ch!vez stoked
Venezuelan nationalism again by attacking King Juan Carlos of Spain.
The spat, which could damage diplomatic relations between the two
nations, began over the weekend during a hemispheric summit held in
Santiago, Chile, during which Ch!vez called ex-Spanish Prime Minister
Jos(c) Mara Aznar a "fascist." In one of his typical rhetorical
flourishes, Ch!vez added, "fascists are not human. A s**** is more
human."
Moving to damp down the escalating rhetoric, Spanish Prime Minister
Jos(c) Lus Rodrguez Zapatero then remarked: "[Former Prime Minister]
Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a
legitimate representative of the Spanish people." Incensed, Ch!vez
wouldn't let go. Though his microphone was turned off, the Venezuelan
leader repeatedly tried to interrupt.
Finally, Juan Carlos leaned forward and said, "Why don't you shut up?"
According to re****ts, in addressing Ch!vez Juan Carlos did not use the
formal mode of address in Spanish known as usted but rather the
familiar form or t, which is generally reserved for close
acquaintances or children, not a head of state.
Aznar and the 2002 Coup
The summit ended in fiasco, as Juan Carlos stormed out of the meeting
while Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega rushed to embrace and defend
Ch!vez. Meanwhile, Ch!vez said the king was "imprudent" and asked if
Juan Carlos knew in advance of the brief coup against him in April,
2002. As he left Santiago, Ch!vez openly questioned whether Spain's
ambassador had appeared with Venezuelan interim president Pedro Carmona
during the 2002 coup with Juan Carlos's blessing.
"Mr King, did you know about the coup d'etat against Venezuela, against
the democratic, legitimate government of Venezuela in 2002?" he asked.
"It's very hard to imagine the Spanish ambassador would have been at
the presidential palace sup****ting the coup plotters without
authorisation from his majesty," he insinuated. The Spanish paper El
Mundo quoted Ch!vez as saying that the king had "got very mad, like a
bull. But I'm a great bullfighter - ol(c)!" The Venezuelan firebrand
added, "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."
Though Ch!vez enjoys warm ties to the socialist Zapatero, the
Venezuelan leader has long lambasted the previous Spanish regime.
During Bush's first term the United States enjoyed a willing foreign
partner in Spain. Jos(c) Mara Aznar, who had reorganized Spanish
conservatives into the People's Party (Partido Popular or PP) had been
Prime Minister of Spain since 1996. Though Ch!vez exaggerated in
calling Aznar a fascist, the Spanish politician's family certainly had
clear fascist ties. Aznar's grandfather, in fact, served as Franco's
ambassador to Morocco and the United Nations and his father was a
pro-Franco journalist.
In 2002, Aznar was Wa****ngton's willing ally in opposing Ch!vez. Prior
to the April 12 coup, Venezuelan businessman Carmona visited high level
government officials in Madrid as well as prominent Spanish
businessmen. Though it's unclear whether Juan Carlos gave his blessing
as Ch!vez suggested, once the coup had been carried out Carmona called
Aznar and met with the Spanish ambassador in Caracas, Manuel Viturro de
la Torre. The Spanish ambassador was accompanied at the meeting by the
U.S. Ambassador, Charles Shapiro. As Ch!vez languished in a military
barracks during the coup, PP parliamentary spokesman Gustavo de
Arstegui wrote an article in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo sup****ting
the coup. According to anonymous diplomatic sources who spoke with
Inter Press Service, the Spanish foreign ministry holds do***ents which
reveal the Spanish role. The do***ents re****tedly prove that de la
Torre had written instructions from the Aznar government to recognize
Carmona as the new president of Venezuela.
Diplomatic Fall Out
The diplomatic tit-for-tat continued after the coup. After defeating
the coup attempt, Ch!vez detained the president of Fedec!maras, Carlos
Fern!ndez, who was accused of helping to foment a lock out which
reduced oil output in 2002-03. Fern!ndez was charged with inciting
unrest and sedition. In February 2003 Ana Palacio, the Spanish Minister
of External Affairs, criticized the detention. During his Sunday radio
and TV show, Ch!vez angrily shot back that Spain should not interfere
in Venezuela's internal affairs. "We must respect each other," said
Ch!vez. "Don't get involved in our things and we won't involve
ourselves in your things. Is it necessary to remember that the Spanish
ambassador was here applauding the April coup?" Ch!vez added, "Aznar,
please, each one in his own place."
The diplomatic chill continued late into 2003 when Aznar criticized
Ch!vez for adopting "failed models" like those of Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Ch!vez retorted that Aznar's statements were "unacceptable" and added
that "perhaps Aznar thinks he is Fernando VII and we are still a
colony. No, Carabobo [a battle of independence] already happened.
Aznar, Ayacucho [another battle during the wars of independence]
already occurred. The Spanish empire was already thrown out of here
almost 200 years ago Aznar. Let those who stick their noses in
Venezuela take note that we will not accept it." In a further snub
Ch!vez stated that Aznar should respond to the Spanish public which
protested PP sup****t for the invasion of Iraq. "He should definitely
take responsibility for that," Ch!vez concluded.
Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister, has accused the
previous PP administration of sup****ting the failed coup d'etat against
Ch!vez in April 2002. Speaking on the Spanish TV program 59 Segundos,
Moratinos remarked that Aznar's policy in Venezuela "was something
unheard of in Spanish diplomacy, the Spanish ambassador received
instructions to sup****t the coup." Before the cameras Moratinos
declared, "That won't happen in the future, because we respect the
popular will." Adding fuel to the fire Ch!vez remarked "I have no doubt
that it [the Spanish involvement] happened. It was a very serious error
on the part of the former government." Ch!vez declared that Venezuela
had no problem with the PP nor with Spain, and that for a brief moment
the two countries enjoyed good relations. But later Aznar's political
as well as personal views changed. "With Aznar," Ch!vez stated
memorably, "there was neither chemistry, nor physics, nor math."
Needless to say, Ch!vez's retort to Juan Carlos has not been embraced
by all. In Spain, the press has rushed to defend the King against
Ch!vez, while the Spanish community in Venezuela called for a protest
march against the President. Peru and Chile, strong U.S. allies in the
region, have also expressed sup****t for Juan Carlos and have criticized
Ch!vez's reaction at the summit.
Still, Ch!vez has gained welcome political mileage from the incident,
which has stoked unpleasant memories of Spanish monarchical rule.
United Left, a Spanish political party, qualified Juan Carlos'
statements as "excessive." Willy Meyer, spokesperson for the party,
said that Juan Carlos behaved as if he was still in the 15th or 16th
centuries. "The King can't tell the Spanish President to shut up," he
said, "and doesn't have the right to do this to others outside of
Spain."
For the past eight years, Ch!vez has sought to build up the cult of
Simn Bolvar, a Venezuelan who liberated the country from Spanish
rule. Books on Bolvar are selling like hotcakes in Caracas, hardly
surprising in light of the political im****tance which Ch!vez has
attached to Bolvar in his public speeches. By attacking Juan Carlos,
Ch!vez may cast himself as a true Venezuelan patriot fighting against
the domineering attitude of the old Spanish Empire. It's a move that
plays well to the Chavista base and Venezuelans' sense of national
pride.
[Nikolas Kozloff lives near Chuck Schumer and also went to high
school in Brooklyn. He is the author of "Hugo Chavez: Oil, Politics,
and the Challenge to the U.S." His new book, "Revolution! South America
and the Rise of the New Left" will be released in April, 2008 with
Palgrave-Macmillan.]
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