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Spain seeking quick end to spat with Venezuela

 

 

 

MADRID
Petroleumworld.com 11 14 07

Spain said Tuesday it hoped for a swift resolution to a diplomatic spat with Caracas over a confrontation that saw King Juan Carlos tell Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez to "shut up."

"The interests of the state, defence and our economic interests and those of Spaniards living in Latin America demand a swift return to diplomatic normality and of dialogue with all countries in the region," Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos told the Senate.

He hoped relations could be back to normal "in a relatively short space of time."
Moratinos also reiterated that Spain was not about to withdraw its ambassador from Caracas, as demanded by the conservative opposition Popular Party.

At the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile on Friday, Chavez branded Spain's former prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a "fascist" for allegedly having backed a 2002 coup attempt against him.

Current Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero then called on Chavez to show more respect, but the next day the Venezuelan leader repeated the attack, adding: "A fascist isn't human, a snake is more human than a fascist."

An irate King Juan Carlos then stepped in, demanding of Chavez: "Why don't you just shut up?"

Industry Minister Joan Clos said earlier Tuesday that Spanish businesses in Venezuela planned to remain.

Several big Spanish companies have investments in Venezuela, including telecommunications group Telefonica, the banks Santander and BBVA, and the Spanish-Argentinian oil group Repsol YPF.

Story from AFP 13 1944 GMT 11 07

Copyright© 2007 Petroleumworld. All rights reserved.

 

 

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