When the King Spoke Up

Today is the anniversary of one of my favorite monarchial moments in the 21st Century. It was on this day in 2007 that HM King Juan Carlos I of Spain pointedly asked Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chavez, “Why don’t you shut up?” at the Ibero-American Summit in Santiago, Chile. I must savor that moment at every opportunity. To refresh; Spanish Prime Minister (socialist) Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero was giving a speech (which I’m sure few remember) but was constantly being interrupted by the insult-spewing commie dictator Chavez. The portly pinko was raving about the former (conservative -or what passes for one in Spain these days) Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, calling him a “fascist” ‘sub-human snake’ etc and accusing him of complicity in the (sadly unsuccessful) 2002 attempt to remove Chavez from power. Zapatero was growing more and more frustrated by these interruptions, as was everyone else who values civility, and was actually driven to the point of defending his predecessor on the grounds that, unlike Chavez, Aznar was at least a democratically elected public servant rather than a dictator. For Americans, this would be like Barack Obama being driven to defend George W. Bush. Things were obviously getting hot! Finally, unable to stand any more of his rude, childish behavior, King Juan Carlos leaned forward at Chavez and said, “Why don’t you shut up?”

Oh, it was a glorious moment! And, just for the cherry on top, the King used the form of address normally reserved for children or inferiors. The room erupted in applause for King Juan Carlos, avenger in the cause of common courtesy and probably the only one in the room with the clout to put the dictatorial blowhard in his place. Later the King stormed out when the communist child molester Daniel Ortega of Nicaragua (a loyal lapdog of Chavez) began criticizing Spain for opening energy companies in his country (yeah, you’re welcome for the jobs pinko). All in all, it was an extremely memorable summit for the King of Spain. Once it was over, the cowardly Chavez reasserted and even expanded his tirade to the press, calling the King of Spain ‘illegitimate’ and comparing former Prime Minister Aznar with Adolf Hitler. However, the King’s verbal slap-down of the overblown tyrant became an instant hit around the world as the phrase, “Por qué no te callas?” began appearing everywhere from ringtones to t-shirts to sports broadcasts. In Venezuela, the long suffering opponents of the Chavez regime adopted the phrase as their slogan. It became a sensation all over the Spanish-speaking world.

There were, of course, detractors. Some said the King was simply having a bad day in a time when things had not been going well for the Spanish monarchy, that he shouldn’t have ‘lost his cool’ in such a public arena or, even more grandly, that this was an illustration of the bitterness of Latin American nations toward Spain and the arrogance of Spain toward her former colonies. Blah, blah, blah! As far as I am concerned, this was a great moment and I think, on this at least, the majority would agree with me. Sean Penn may love the guy, but most of the world can see Hugo Chavez for the brutal, petty dictator that he is and when the King of Spain told him to shut his mouth he was saying what multitudes of other people in and outside of Venezuela would have loved to have been able to say themselves. Everyone was living vicariously through him at that moment, when he angrily pointed at Chavez, warning him he needed to behave himself and, that failing, finally leaning over to tell him to shut his pie hole. Would, say, Queen Elizabeth II say such a thing to someone like Robert Mugabe (back when Zimbabwe was still in the Commonwealth)? No, of course she wouldn’t. Would she be perfectly justified in doing so? Absolutely and without doubt. Just as King Juan Carlos was. I also have to mention that, the year after this incident, King Juan Carlos I was voted the most popular leader of the Ibero-American nations. Viva el Rey!