It’s a rare sight to see a king lose his cool. But Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez succeeded at pushing King Juan Carlos de Borbon’s patience to the limit, forcing the Spanish monarch to render a royal tongue-lashing. “¿Por que no te callas?” (“Why don’t you just shut up?”) the king yelled out to Chavez during a meeting of heads of state at the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile.

The now-infamous episode has traveled far and wide in political circles and among news junkies and followers of the ongoing Chavez-versus-the-world incidents. It even made its way through cyberspace, where it’s been the inspiration for songs, poems, the latest cell-phone ringtone and hundreds of versions on YouTube.

In case you missed the details, here’s what happened. As the head of the Spanish government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, gave his speech at the final session of the summit, Chavez continuously interrupted him, accusing his predecessor, Jose Maria Aznar, of supporting a short-lived coup against him in 2002 and calling him a fascist. Zapatero, a socialist himself, kindly asked Chavez to show respect for other leaders despite political differences. Chavez ignored the request and carried on with his insults, which led to the king’s out-of-character, spontaneous reaction.

The royal reprimand has been applauded by those who think it’s about time someone stood up to the irreverent Venezuelan leader, although the usual suspects -- Cuba’s Fidel Castro, Bolivia’s Evo Morales and Nicaragua’s Daniel Ortega -- came out in Chavez’s defense. And not surprisingly, the Venezuelan leader used the incident to his advantage, stating that Latin America has been putting up with 500 years of Spanish arrogance, referring to the centuries-long colonial rule of the region. Chavez also reminded the king that he is a head of state who deserves respect, and “a democratically elected one, at that.”

Chavez, intent on taking the incident to a higher level, threatened to impose stricter scrutiny on Spanish companies that operate in Venezuela unless he gets an apology from the Spanish monarch. But there will be no such apology. Former Prime Minister Aznar, who was the subject of Chavez’s attacks, refused to add fuel to the fire, but did say he is old enough to know that people tend to overreact for internal reasons. Could it be that Chavez is attempting to draw attention away from his own troubles at home?

In the past few weeks, there has been an increase in protests among opposition forces in Venezuela. By the thousands, students have been marching in protest against the latest attempt to perpetuate Chavez in the presidency, at times clashing in violent confrontations with his supporters. A new series of constitutional amendments would, among other things, extend the presidency from six to seven years and eliminate term limits, allowing him to run for re-election indefinitely. Chavez, who already has been in power almost nine years, is asking Venezuelans to ratify the changes in a referendum scheduled for Dec. 2.

One of Chavez’s former allies came out in support of the student marches, calling the reforms a virtual “coup” by Chavez and asking citizens and military personnel to reject the reforms in the referendum. Gen. Raul Baduel -- who was replaced as defense minister in July -- is one of the closest members of Chavez’s inner circle to defect in recent years. Chavez condemned Baduel as “one more traitor.” No surprise there.

It is ironic that a man who is notorious for publicly insulting anyone who dares to even remotely oppose or criticize him, who has accused the Catholic Church in his country of defending immorality, and who has called Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice ignorant and President George W. Bush the devil is now demanding an apology from someone who was merely asking for respect, even if his choice of words was not fit for a king. The Spanish monarch lost his cool, but the royal admonishment of Chavez begs the question if maybe the Venezuelan leader has gone a bit too far.

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(Maria Elena Salinas is the author of “I AM MY FATHER’S DAUGHTER: LIVING A LIFE WITHOUT SECRETS.” Reach her at www.mariaesalinas.com)
© 2007 by Maria Elena Salinas
Distributed by King Features Syndicate