[NYTr] Playing the Nationalist Card: Chavez Blasts Spanish King

[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 Chávez 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 Chávez called ex-Spanish Prime Minister
José María Aznar a "fascist." In one of his typical rhetorical
flourishes, Chávez added, "fascists are not human. A snake is more
human."

Moving to damp down the escalating rhetoric, Spanish Prime Minister
José Luís Rodríguez Zapatero then remarked: "[Former Prime Minister]
Aznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a
legitimate representative of the Spanish people." Incensed, Chávez
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 reports, in addressing Chávez Juan Carlos did not use the
formal mode of address in Spanish known as usted but rather the
familiar form or tú, 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
Chávez. Meanwhile, Chávez 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, Chávez 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 supporting the coup plotters without
authorisation from his majesty," he insinuated. The Spanish paper El
Mundo quoted Chávez as saying that the king had "got very mad, like a
bull. But I'm a great bullfighter - olé!" 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 Chávez 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. José María Aznar, who had reorganized Spanish
conservatives into the People's Party (Partido Popular or PP) had been
Prime Minister of Spain since 1996. Though Chávez 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 Washington's willing ally in opposing Chávez. 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 Chávez 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 Chávez languished in a military
barracks during the coup, PP parliamentary spokesman Gustavo de
Arístegui wrote an article in the Spanish newspaper El Mundo supporting
the coup. According to anonymous diplomatic sources who spoke with
Inter Press Service, the Spanish foreign ministry holds documents which
reveal the Spanish role. The documents reportedly 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, Chávez detained the president of Fedecámaras, Carlos
Fernández, who was accused of helping to foment a lock out which
reduced oil output in 2002-03. Fernández 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, Chávez angrily shot back that Spain should not interfere
in Venezuela's internal affairs. "We must respect each other," said
Chávez. "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?" Chávez added, "Aznar,
please, each one in his own place."

The diplomatic chill continued late into 2003 when Aznar criticized
Chávez for adopting "failed models" like those of Cuba's Fidel Castro.
Chávez 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
Chávez stated that Aznar should respond to the Spanish public which
protested PP support for the invasion of Iraq. "He should definitely
take responsibility for that," Chávez concluded.

Miguel Angel Moratinos, the Spanish Foreign Minister, has accused the
previous PP administration of supporting the failed coup d'etat against
Chávez 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 support 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 Chávez remarked "I have no doubt
that it [the Spanish involvement] happened. It was a very serious error
on the part of the former government." Chávez 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," Chávez stated
memorably, "there was neither chemistry, nor physics, nor math."

Needless to say, Chávez's retort to Juan Carlos has not been embraced
by all. In Spain, the press has rushed to defend the King against
Chávez, 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 support for Juan Carlos and have criticized
Chávez's reaction at the summit.

Still, Chávez 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, Chávez has sought to build up the cult of
Simón Bolívar, a Venezuelan who liberated the country from Spanish
rule. Books on Bolívar are selling like hotcakes in Caracas, hardly
surprising in light of the political importance which Chávez has
attached to Bolívar in his public speeches. By attacking Juan Carlos,
Chávez 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.]