The day Chavez met his match

King Juan Carlos has long been one of my heroes. And here's why. Anyone who tells the loudmouthed Chavez to 'shut up'  and then walks out on Daniel Ortega has to go to the top of the list.

Hat Tip: Benedict Brogan

UPDATE: Chavez v. Juan Carlos: Round II

Comments

[Laura]

Most Spaniards agree with the King's words. Even most Republicans. You just can't let a person like Chavez insult your country and a democratically elected ex-president. He should just take care of his own country. The King is my hero too.

[Paul Turner]

When was the last time Juan Carlos knocked on doors or handed out leaflets in Madrid shopping centres to get elected to earn the right to speak on behalf of anyone?
Oh he didn't. He just got born. So what moral, electoral, juridical or any authority does he have to ask an elected leader of a nation to shut up or do anything else?
Absolutely "nada".

[agostina contigiani]

it was about time!! i'm tired of hearing him speak on behalf of all of latin america. i am from argentina, and i have to say that i completely disagree with what he's done in venezuela. i know bush is even worse, but no extreme is good.

[James]

I have to be careful here as I have friends and family in Venezuela but Chavez and his cronies are thugs.When he came to power oil was about $10 a barrel?! It's now over $90 - and people can't find basic foodstuff in the shops !! Where is the money Chavez ?A lot of it in Cuba of course.Would you not think it prudent to fix your own house before you fix someone else's ?There are at this moment hugh protest marches going on in Venezuela , as there have been in the past , with lives lost.Is that the "celebrities" idea of a perfect society?Take a look via the internet at the lifestyles of and the properties of his cronies and party faithful- many of the properties being in the US .Now that doesn't take a lot of working out!!He's simply a windbag who has fooled a largely illiterate people(they get HIS version via HIS television channels)with a diet of scaremongering and patriotism .A thoroughly despicable individual.

[Al]

Viva King Juan Carlos. It´s about time someone told that Chavez to shut up.

[Ragnar B. Johannessen]

Why do you laud someone who has been rude to someone else? -It would seem that the philosophy underlying your point of view is that 'person' (group) is more important than 'issue'. The other view is that we should stay with the 'issue' and leave 'person' alone -like in soccer football: you go for the ball, not the player. -Daniel, I don't think it's right to decide upon an ethical question by focusing on 'person'. -An act that is wrong does not become right just because your friend did it. See?

[tato dulanci]

King Juan Carlos of Spain has left Chavez in front of the world just as what he is: America`s buffoon.
!Viva the King of Spain!

[aleksander boyd]

Venezuelans the world over are rejoicing with the King of Spain´s proverbial phrase, while wanting to say as clearly that a failed coupster does not represent Venezuela´s decent people. About time someone said to the militaristic caudillo to shut up.

[Stef]

@ Paul Turner
The main difference between the King of Spain and Hugo Chavez is that the monarch has been the savior of the spanish democracy while Chavez is in the process of destroying the democracy in Venezuela by changing the constitution so that he can be President for life. One can be elected and be a dictator (e.g. Hitler) and one can be a king and be a true democrat. Long live King Juan Carlos of Spain!

[Erric Brammer]

Though I hate Chavez, the King has no mandate nor legitimacy to talk like that to an elected head of State. We don´t see Queen Elizabeth acting like that with Robert Mugabe.

[Ricardo]

What can we say about Chavez, he´s a dictor, everybody should remenber he tried to get the power in a military coup. He only says fool thing about everybody doesn´t agree with his ideas, while he´s taking away the fredom in his country. Do you remembar someone who make a military coup and years later he arrived to power because an election, yeah it was Hitler. And why should we allow someone to insult our country?

[Cynthia Shirakura]

I have a family in Venezuela.
Hugo Chavez is far from a man of politics. He has betrayed everyone and everything in his life. His is a criminal by nature.
These days he is betraying the National Constitution by impossing "his" constitution through illegal means. Since 2004 he is not a legal president because of the electoral system under his control.
The democratic world has to react in order to return democracy to the venezuelan people.

[Juan Español]

@ Paul Turner
Yes The King of Spain was not elected, only His Highness was absolutely instrumental in bringing democracy to Spain. Not only in bringing it to Spain, but in defending and preserving it from people of the same moral level of Mr Chavez.
If the Presidente de Venezuela had not intervened (OUT OF TURN, INTERRUPTING SOMEBODY ELSE; ought to be remainded to doubters) D. Juan Carlos would, most probably, not have told him "porqué no te callas" which is a spanish version of "shut up" only more polite.
The basis of DEMOCRACY is having a maximum of respect for the people that keeps opinions other than your own, and letting them to express themselves, so you may counter them with the same degree of respect.
Viva el Rey (democrata) de España!

[Roman - UK]

Paul Turner,

I'm afraid you're wrong my friend. His highness Don Juan Carlos was democratically accepted by the Spanish population in 1978, moment when all of them decided to approved the current Spanish Constitutional Monarchy system. One of the the questions in that referendum was about the acceptance or not acceptance of Juan Carlos I as head of state and the monarchy restoration in Spain.

We are so lucky and proud about our king.

Long life the king!!!

[daniel]

To Laura

I'm spanish, and the king of spain was elected in 1978 with the constitution for a 91% of the spanish. He is the head of democracy and freedom in spain.Do you think he is nobody to say a dictator "por que no te callas" defending an elected president of his country? abosolutly nada? ignorant...

[Santiago]

It is about time that a true democratic leader (yes true, because the King of Spain was democratically elected by the people of Spain in a special referendum that established the current Constitutional Monarchy in 1978) let Mr Chavez know how the free people of the world feel about his arrogance and twisted ideas. Mr Chavez is not a legitimate leader of Venezuela, he controls every aspect of that country, from the media to the country's wealth, it's petroleum. He is destroying the people of Venezuela and is now trying to change the constitution of Venezuela so that he can be president for life. No my friends, Mr Chavez is nothing more than a dictator and does not deserve the respect of anyone.

Long live the King
Viva Su Majestad D. Juan Carlos
Te aplaudimos !

[Caroline Devitt]

To Paul Turner: it was the King of Spain who put democracy in place there after Franco's death. Franco himself wanted Juan Carlos to be his successor, and after Franco's death his supporters were disappointed when Juan Carlos began democratic reform. Spain's transition to democracy was peaceful. He also held off an attempted coup by Franco's supporters in 1981. Even if you're not a monarchist, he's a person who deserves respect.

[Philip Dawes]

Let facts speak for themselves: Don Juan Carlos was elected upon the emotionally-charged ticket of head of state following the death of the fascist murderer Franco before him. It was a psychological liberation for the Spanish people to be rid of Franco's tyrannical cloud forever thus to elect their king.

Chavez, who appears to function as dictator of Venezuela, was elected by the indigenous peoples of that country to rid it of the oppression, thuggery, exploitation and sheer greed of the ruling classes set up by their evil neighbour America. Chavez has therefore been a godsend for 'the people' of Venezuela and the rest of Latin America to break the American thuggery yolk that has held them down for far too long. Since Chavez's election the people have been given rights, opportunities and liberties never seen before. So good-on-yer Chavez. May you do more for South America.

Back to the meeting. From a diplomatic level it was discourteous of Chavez to interrupt a speaker already in discourse. However, it was even more discourteous of Don Juan Carlos to intervene telling Chavez to shut up. That was a disgrace and indicated his low level! He further showed lack of respect and courtesy by getting up and leaving when another head of state started to speak.

May Venezuela and the rest of South America become stronger!

[Andy]

Could Phillip Dawes possibly list some of the "rights, opportunities and liberties" that Venezuelans currently enjoy? The opportunity to see almost none of that oil income? The right to protest and then get shot? The liberty to watch only government controlled TV?
I think Mr Dawes has lived so long in the sort of nice cushy liberal democracy he seems to despise so much that he's forgotten what real "thuggery" looks like.

[Francisco Javier Iparraguirre Vañó]

First, sorry about my English, I'm Spanish. In my country (Spain) almost everybody have understood these as a not very polite or elegant comment. On the other hand its a comment as spaniard defending democracy and somebody being accused of being a murder (nobody doubts about this). In a nutshell, he told that representing nearly everybody's opinion and thats his function, TO REPRESENT US

[simon wade]

Paul Turner, Juan Carlos is not the British monarchy. I think you should read up a bit on who he is and the history behind him and you will find that Juan Carlos may not have been democratically elected, but should he present himself for election today, he would be voted for 1000 times over.

[simon wade]

Sorry Phillip, I agree with Andy. Besides, a similar bid to overturn the Spanish Democratic soociety was only foiled by King Juan Carlos personally intervening, and as he himself recently and rightly stated, since his becoming the head of state, Spain has enjoyed its most stable period both economically and politically speaking. Like it or not, thanks to this guy Spain is now a major world player.

[Cheryl]

Hugo Chavez is an embarrassment to the good people of Venezuela.

[marta]

Im from spain and im not republican,when i borned king of spain was here already and i have grown whit him and all his family.thanks to the king we feel the pride of to be spanishs, that pride we was lost because the president of spain (zapatero) is a coward and his only friends actually are dictators,tyrants and despots what at the moment of truth they are false friends traitors.
spanish people miss friends in europe, that friends we had with aznar and now we have lost, its sad now any country like moroco indulge in criticize us and claim cities of spain while our president does not do nothing or any idiot like chavez insult our country and our king. VIVA ESPAÑA, VIVA EL REY Y VIVA AZNAR.

[mike corrigan]

Mr. Dawes, I dont see your list.

[Ofelia]

I am glad to see that there are people who remember that our King was actually elected. Anyway, it was Chavez who was interrupting constantly and I think that, though it is true than the King lost his temper, it was a good thing. I would like to add that the "incident" was caused by Chavez (for obvious reasons) and by Mrs. Bachelet who was the Meeting Chairperson and should have told Chavez to respect other countries time to speak . She did nothing... for days.

[Ragnar B. Johannessen]

Daniel,
Yesterday I asked you a question and as far as I can see, you've not answered it. The question was:

"Why do you laud someone who has been rude to someone else?"

I also made a point, which was:

"An act that is wrong does not become right just because your friend [does] it."

I also would like to draw your attention to another example of rudeness in public:

Presidenr Ahmadinejad was invited by Columbia University recently to speak there. President Bollinger was uncommonly rude to him and I found this very shocking. Now, why is it that the so-called "enemies" of the West/the US/israel are being treated in this unprecedented way? Why is such rude behavior being lauded and applauded? Are we descending into abject tribalism (again)? Would it not be better for all of us if we adhered to general rules of behavior and common decency?

I want to be explicit:

Juan Carlos de Borbón was rude to President Chávez and probably offended a great number of people in Venezuela. He should tell President Chávez and the people of Venezuela that he is sorry for what he did. Why hasn't he done so already?

One more thing. -I find the gung ho tribalism of your readers disgusting!

Sincerely,
Ragnar B. Johannessen

[Dave Madley]

Ragnar, what a load of waffle!

[Luis]

Please let us not forget that actually, there hasn't been any elections in Spain regarding the monarchical issue. We voted the constitution in 78' but not the king, he was already in the pack. Obviously, after franco it would had been too shocking for the country to revert to a Republic, but make no mistakes about this, we, spaniards, never had the right to choose wherter we wanted Juan Carlos or not It was a "fait accompli"

[ANCLA2]

I am writing from Venezuela. Finkelstein is my hero as well. Finally news people around the world are moving over from the "charm" of Chavez and see the face Venezuela sees every day: A tyranic and egocentric leader who kidnapped all branches of government and is destroying socially and economically our nation only to remain indefinitely in power.
We like King Juan Carlos because he did stand up against the abuse everyone gets from Chavez and his servants. "Por qué no te callas" is not a sign of the popular protests here in Caracas just now.

[Keith Pirelli]

Daniel Finkelstein adores outspoken people he can agree with,unless of course they say anything about the Jews.Then it is teeth gnashing,hand ringing and censorship time.I admired the Spanish king's response to Chavez and his inarticulate ramblings.I admire all freedom of speech, especially if considered and relevant.Overdoses of hypocracy though,tend to give me stomach ache.

[PAULIE]

DICTATORS DESERVE NO RESPECT. CHAVEZ, STALIN, MAO, HITLER, CASTRO. TAKE YOUR PICK, THEY ARE ALL RUBBISH AND SHOULD BE AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN REGARDED AS SUCH. IGNORE THEM AT YOUR PERIL!!!!!!!

[HOLANDES HERRANTE]

CHAVEZ IS ONLY A JOKER WHICH A LOT OF PETROL. KING JUAN CARLOS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PERSONALITY IN THE TWENTY CENTURY POR SPAIN AND ALSO ONE OF THE MOST RESPECTABLE DEMOCARATICAL LEADER IN THE WORLD. THERE IS NO COMPARISON.

[Jorge]

From the perspective of a Venezuelan, living in Venezuela, particularly for the past 10 years, I believe a few things need to be said.
Sadly, it took an impasse with an European Head of State for Europe to realise the true nature of the character.
An incident like that of Santiago and 10 years had to pass for some Europeans to finally admit Chavez is not what they "thought", despite all the local voices that rose and were swiftly dismissed either because they were "rich" seeking to block the "poor" from their rights, or simply because he was democartically elected, and all electiones were "sanctioned" by International Organizations.
In all fairness, it must be said that the same applies to many of neighbours, just look at Lula, Kirchner, Correa, Morales.
The most cynical of us feel that some pockets had to be affected in order for the moral fiber to come afloat.
Many of those who oppossed him now, were not long ago happy to do business with the regime and to receive money in any way.
Most of those who keep their silence or still try to argue in his favor, are still doing business or benefitting from the regime.
We have suffered a voting carnival for the last 9 years. This circumstance was, and still is, used to prove that democracy still exists and is stronger than ever.
One only has to remember the shady participation of many international organizationd and "figures" in this charade.
The Carter Foundation endorsed the use of voting machines as safe and reliable, just to oppose its use a few months later for an US Governor election. A side note, the company that provided the machines, SMARMATIC, is Spanish (ironic, isn't it?)
The methods used against the students are not new. Thay have been used in the past against women and the elderly and nobody reacted as swiftly.
The same Spanish banks that are being threatened today, were not long ago under investigation my Mr Garzon for funding Mr. Chavez campaign.
Still many Europeans see Chavez as a righteous leader and champion for the poor and underpriviliged, but, as many on this side of the ocean, I wonder, how many of them would have Chavez as their President or Prime Minister? Or how many would even consider such a candidacy?
I am aware that I may sound bitter and cynical, but isn't this whole story a cynism ladden situation?

[Reynaldo Rodriguez]

It's amazing that even there are people around the world who don't know the history. I would like than that people research the true biography of the King Juan Carlos. He is the successor of fascist man that killed more than 600.000 people in the spanish civil war.
Read the spanish history..................................... Donkey

[Alex Bjerke]

As a Norwegian, I appologize for Ragnars comments and say to him: Por qué no te callas?

Viva el rey!

[joshue]

For anyone to say that the 2 ilegitimate presidents, soon to be known as Dictators, were out of line, is simply choosing to be Bias.
It's simple. One speaks, the other listen. It's called courtesy.
He who walks in Darkness knows not what makes him stumble!
what part of that do we not understand?
Come on People. Step up!
josue!