(ajz) Venezuela's president has struck back at Spain's king, who told him to "shut up" at a leader's summit in Chile over the weekend. Hugo Chavez suggested on Sunday that King Juan Carlos knew beforehand that a coup was going to be staged against Chavez in 2002. Chavez said Spain's ambassador had appeared at Venezuela's presidential palace during the two-day coup to support Pedro Carmona, the interim president, with the king's blessing. "Mr King, did you know about the coup d'etat against Venezuela, against the democratic, legitimate government of Venezuela in 2002?" Chavez said to reporters in Chile. "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." 'Shut up!' The spat began on Saturday when Chavez accused Jose Maria Aznar, the former Spanish prime minister, of backing the 2002 coup and repeatedly called him "fascist" in an address at the Ibero-American summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal. "Fascists are not human. A snake is more human," Chavez had said on Saturday.

Join BBN for free to post a comment. If you already have an account, please login here to post a comment. You will be returned to this page after logging in.