King Juan Carlos championed strong ties between Spain and its former empire in Latin America, except for the time the departing monarch told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to "shut up."
The famous clash took place during an Ibero-American summit in Chile in 2007, when Chavez angered Juan Carlos by calling Spanish conservative ex-prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist.
Chavez was having a tense exchange with then prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero when the king chimed in, waving his left hand toward the socialist Venezuelan leader and saying "why don't you just shut up" in front of other regional leaders.
The incident caused a diplomat spat between Venezuela and Spain, with Chavez demanding an apology from the monarch and ordering a review of bilateral relations.
The king's outburst also became a catchphrase in the Spanish-speaking world which appeared on T-shirts and became a mobile phone ringtone that was downloaded by millions of people.
But the two men patched things up eight months later when Chavez met with Juan Carlos during a visit to Spain and joked about the incident.
It was a brief interlude in the king's efforts to forge deeper ties between Spain and the vast region it ruled for centuries with an iron fist following the arrival of conquistadores in the New World.
- 'A great guy' -
The monarch, who announced on Monday that he would relinquish the crown to his son Prince Felipe, paid his first of dozens of official visit to Latin America in 1976, when he traveled to the Dominican Republic.
"The king has been a very visible figure in the region, especially through the Ibero-American summits, which opened strong channels of communication," said Adolfo Laborde, an international relations expert at Mexico's Monterrey Institute of Technology.
The head of state inaugurated the first Ibero-American summit, which gathers leaders of Spain, Portugal and Latin America, in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara.
At the time, it was the only forum for dialogue between leaders of Latin America and the old continent.
Juan Carlos only missed one summit in a quarter century, when a hip operation prevented him from traveling to Panama last year.
With his casual personal style, the 76-year-old monarch became close to Latin American leaders of all political stripes in a region in which Spanish banks, oil giant Repsol and telephone company Telefonica have major interests.
Even Chavez, who lost his battle with cancer last year, had nice things to say about the king in 2011.
"The king is, as the Spanish say, a 'tipazo' (a great guy)," Chavez said.
Several Latin American leaders paid tribute to Juan Carlos after he announced that he would end his 39-year reign.
In a message on Twitter, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa called the king and his son Felipe "dear friends" and wished them "good luck and all our affection."
Juan Carlos last visited Latin America in 2012, sending his son to represent the monarchy instead.
The crown prince attended Chavez's funeral in March last year. He has also appeared at the swearing in ceremonies of presidents, including the inauguration of El Salvador's Salvador Sanchez Ceren on Sunday.
Felipe's rise to the throne will be "a good opportunity because he is younger and he represents another generation for a new dialogue with countries in which relations were neglected a little," said Luis Antonio Huacuja, a European Union expert at Mexico's National Autonomous University.
King Juan Carlos championed strong ties between Spain and its former empire in Latin America, except for the time the departing monarch told Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez to “shut up.”
The famous clash took place during an Ibero-American summit in Chile in 2007, when Chavez angered Juan Carlos by calling Spanish conservative ex-prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist.
Chavez was having a tense exchange with then prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero when the king chimed in, waving his left hand toward the socialist Venezuelan leader and saying “why don’t you just shut up” in front of other regional leaders.
The incident caused a diplomat spat between Venezuela and Spain, with Chavez demanding an apology from the monarch and ordering a review of bilateral relations.
The king’s outburst also became a catchphrase in the Spanish-speaking world which appeared on T-shirts and became a mobile phone ringtone that was downloaded by millions of people.
But the two men patched things up eight months later when Chavez met with Juan Carlos during a visit to Spain and joked about the incident.
It was a brief interlude in the king’s efforts to forge deeper ties between Spain and the vast region it ruled for centuries with an iron fist following the arrival of conquistadores in the New World.
– ‘A great guy’ –
The monarch, who announced on Monday that he would relinquish the crown to his son Prince Felipe, paid his first of dozens of official visit to Latin America in 1976, when he traveled to the Dominican Republic.
“The king has been a very visible figure in the region, especially through the Ibero-American summits, which opened strong channels of communication,” said Adolfo Laborde, an international relations expert at Mexico’s Monterrey Institute of Technology.
The head of state inaugurated the first Ibero-American summit, which gathers leaders of Spain, Portugal and Latin America, in the western Mexican city of Guadalajara.
At the time, it was the only forum for dialogue between leaders of Latin America and the old continent.
Juan Carlos only missed one summit in a quarter century, when a hip operation prevented him from traveling to Panama last year.
With his casual personal style, the 76-year-old monarch became close to Latin American leaders of all political stripes in a region in which Spanish banks, oil giant Repsol and telephone company Telefonica have major interests.
Even Chavez, who lost his battle with cancer last year, had nice things to say about the king in 2011.
“The king is, as the Spanish say, a ‘tipazo’ (a great guy),” Chavez said.
Several Latin American leaders paid tribute to Juan Carlos after he announced that he would end his 39-year reign.
In a message on Twitter, Ecuadoran President Rafael Correa called the king and his son Felipe “dear friends” and wished them “good luck and all our affection.”
Juan Carlos last visited Latin America in 2012, sending his son to represent the monarchy instead.
The crown prince attended Chavez’s funeral in March last year. He has also appeared at the swearing in ceremonies of presidents, including the inauguration of El Salvador’s Salvador Sanchez Ceren on Sunday.
Felipe’s rise to the throne will be “a good opportunity because he is younger and he represents another generation for a new dialogue with countries in which relations were neglected a little,” said Luis Antonio Huacuja, a European Union expert at Mexico’s National Autonomous University.
