Smiles and laughter: Hugo Chávez meets King Juan Carlos
Juan Carlos I met the Venezuelan leader with a warm smile, shaking hands and affectionately patting him on the arm. “Thanks for making the effort to come,” the king said. “I’m happy to see you.”
The King was very congenial in spite of having to cool his heels for a full hour before Hugo showed up. At least the King was able to wait indoors but the media had to sit in the hot sun for the entire time.
They didn’t hug, but, does this look like a bump to you?
Let’s go to the videotape (in Spanish):
The King was probably in a good mood because Chavez has promised to sell 100,000 barrels of oil a day at $100/bb, $25 below the current market price. The anchorwoman said that Chavez hasn’t stopped talking since he arrived in Spain.
[NOTE: Alek mentions in the comments that it’s not 100,000 but 10,000. As you can see in the newscast they typed 100,000 in the banner, but Alek is correct. My apologies for the confusion.]
If you all may recall, last November Juan Carlos publically told Chavez to shut up, “Por que no te callas?”, after Chavez called former Spanish PM Aznar a fascist:
The “Por que no te callas?” made its way around the world as a best-selling ringtone, several songs, and hundreds of t-shirts. Even King Abdullah told Hugo to put a sock on it during an OPEC summit where Chavez was warning the US that he’d raise oil prices. Now Chavez is singing a different tune, saying that price of crude oil should be stabilized at 100 U.S. dollars per barrel.
After asking the King “Por que no nos vamos a la playa?” (which won’t replace the “Por que no te callas?”), Chavez went on to do standup during the press conference with Prime Minister Zapatero.
The diplomatic world gives a sigh of relief while the rest of us will simply continue to live in hope for a Juan Carlos-Hugo chessboxing match.
It’s not 100,000 but 10,000 BPD at $100