VENEZUELA: Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez demands yet again an apology from Spain's King Juan Carlos who told Chavez to "shut up" during the last Ibero-American Summit

Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez demands yet again an apology from Spain's King Juan Carlos who told Chavez to "shut up" during the last Ibero-American Summit. Thousands of students gathered in the streets of Caracas on Wednesday (November 21) to mark Students' Day with marches for and against proposed constitutional reforms. The day, meant to honour students, turned political as supporters and opponents of the reforms marched through downtown, waving signs and shouting slogans. Thousands clad in the red shirts of president Hugo Chavez's government turned out to cheer changes to the constitution, which will be voted on in a referendum on December 2. Later in the day, Chavez arrived from an overseas trip and addressed a jubilant crowd of thousands of his supporters. He demanded, once again, an apology from Spain's King Juan Carlos who told Chavez to "shut up" in Chile during the Ibero-American Summit on November 10. "We love Spain, we love the people of Spain and we respect Spain and its institutions but the King of Spain, the King of Spain should apologize for the very grave error he committed in Santiago de Chile," Chavez said during his speech. "Intending to shut me up, not even one million kings will shut me up. When I speak, the people of Venezuela speak." Chavez arrived at the rally just shortly after touching down in Caracas following an overseas trip that took him to the Middle East, France and Portugal. During the rally, Chavez told the crowd he had stopped over in Cuba to pay ailing Cuban leader Fidel Castro a visit. On December 2, Venezuelans go to the polls to vote in a referendum that would reform the constitution. Hard-core supporters are likely to deliver Chavez a referendum win on scrapping term limits, even if much of his constitutional overhaul makes most Venezuelans uneasy, pollsters say. The expected victory underlines the resilience of Chavez's backing after eight years in office. The raft of reforms will expand the self-styled revolutionary's powers as he seeks to turn the major oil exporter into a socialist state.

ITN Source | November 22, 2007

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