Chavez and the King bury the hatchet

28 Jul, 2008 04:07 / Updated 16 years ago

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez has been showing off a gift from King Juan Carlos of Spain. The T-Shirt is emblazoned with the phrase: “Why don't you shut up?”. Both sides hope the joke will end a diplomatic row between Venezuela and Spain t

During the summit in Chile, the monarch asked President Chavez to shut up after bickering with Spain's Prime Minister Zapatero. In his weekly TV address, Hugo Chavez said he was glad to have restored good relations with the King. On Friday, King Juan Carlos and Hugo Chavez held their first meeting since the incident, which made headlines around the world. The king's outburst has become a popular insult among Spanish speakers. The phrase «¿Por qué no te callas?» (Why don't you shut up?) has been printed on T-shirts and transformed into mobile-phone ringtones downloaded by millions.  Chavez said he had invited both the king and prime minister Zapatero to Venezuela after being presented with the T-Shirt.