LA Times take on Chavez/King of Spain dust up

[donsu]

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-chavez17nov17,0,3472629.story?coll=la-home-world


King's words to Chavez start a battle royal


-- Someone finally told Hugo Chavez to shut up, and the Spanish-speaking world can hardly stop talking about it.

(so now we know how the LA Times really feels about Chavez)

The verbal slap to the Venezuelan president came from none other than King Juan Carlos I of Spain, providing fodder for satirists from Mexico City to Madrid -- and laying bare the complexity of relations between a once-imperial power and its former colonies.

-snip-

That the king's admonition touched a collective nerve was evident in newspaper headlines, cable television and on YouTube. His phrase was reproduced on T-shirts and cellphone ring tones. In Mexico City, the dust-up became a skit on the satirical show "El Chabo del 8." In El Salvador's capital, the phrase became a playful greeting.

What was uncertain after a week's worth of controversy was who put whom in his place. Political spinmeisters differed on which of the two men came off looking worse: Chavez for his boorish lack of etiquette, or the king for unregally insulting a national leader at a forum whose theme was "social cohesion."

-snip-

The dust-up also brought to the forefront the controversy over the economic "reconquest" of Latin America by Spanish businesses such as telecommunications giant Telefonica, oil company Repsol and financial behemoth Banco Santander.

-snip-

"Sometimes a slip of the tongue, improvised and unconscious, lets loose an expression that is full of meaning," Silva said. "When King Juan Carlos ordered to shut up, maybe he let us glimpse a small or large bit of imperial nostalgia."

-snip-

One thing is clear: The Iberoamerican Summit was an utter failure, throwing into question whether there would be another one.
-snip-
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the bottom line:

"complexity of relations between a once-imperial power and its former colonies"

[UTUSN]

1. Instead of "how the LAT really feels about CHAVEZ," more like, how many/most in L. America do n/t