By IANS
Caracas : Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has denied that he had “disrespected” Spain’s King Juan Carlos during the recent Ibero-American Summit in Chile and accused the media of “manipulation” in reporting the incident, Spanish news agency EFE reported Wednesday.
Spanish King Juan Carlos shouted “shut up” to Chavez during the meeting Saturday when the latter called former Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a “fascist” and accused elements in Spain’s business community of having backed a failed April 2002 coup in Caracas.
Chavez said Tuesday he did not even hear the king shout “shut up” when he refused to give the floor to Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero who insisted on a right to answer the Venezuelan president’s accusations against his predecessor.
“I have no interest in affecting relations with Spain, but neither are we going to permit ourselves to be attacked and singled out. Venezuela respects itself and the head of state will be respected,” he said.
Reiterating charges that the Spanish ex-premier supported a short-lived coup that briefly forced him out of power in 2002, Chavez also recounted a July 1999 conversation with Aznar during which the former prime minister purportedly invited him to join “our club” if he abandoned his close relationship with Cuba’s Fidel Castro.