Chavez and King of Spain ovecome shut up incident

Caracas, Venezuela, 25 July 2008, Today, King of Spain Juan Carlos met Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez at Marivent Royal Palace at Mallorca. This is the first time they met after the XVII Ibero American Summit incident when King Juan Carlos asked Chavez to shut up. In reaction, President Chavez decided to "revise" bilateral relations.

This meeting is the last move in a crafty and slow diplomatic process to bring Venezuela and Spain into friendly terms again. Few months ago, Spain started to approach Chavez´s administration to mend relations at lower levels. Then, the process of reconciliation went up the ladder to the Heads of States. King of Spain Juan Carlos is expected to visit Venezuela next year.

Commenting on the meeting, President Chavez recognised that the shut up incident created furor and many jokes. Jokingly he explained that neither King of Spain nor him had received any royalty for the numerous products and phrases depicting the incident.

Chavez also met with the Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero to examine the state of bilateral relations and cooperation agreements. They also discuss the participation of Spanish Oil Company Repsol in joint exploitation initiatives at the Orinoco Basin  Chavez proposed the creation of a working team to analyse the EU Immigration Policy of Return which would affect many Latin American working in Europe

Sources: Globovision, VTV, YVKE, Unionradio, Telesur, Aljazeera,  El Pais, El Universal,  

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