|
Tuesday, December 04, 2007 [continued from entry of November 20] It's been fascinating to follow the fallout from incident at the summit, beginning with the incident itself, a happening that took everyone by surprise -- possibly even Chávez himself. He seems to be a man who is not very good at listening, who has little patience and little tolerance for ideas that don't conform with his, and who loves to hear himself talk. The papers here refer to him as a narcisist, an egotist. Maybe he is, maybe isn't. What's certain is that he couldn't keep quiet during the time given to the Spanish president to talk. It didn't matter that the format was designed to allow one person at a time to deliver a short.... whatever. Speech, discourse, comic monologue. So that every head of state there on the dais would have their turn. It didn't matter. For whatever reasons, in that moment this individual simply could not contain himself. He interrupted Zapatero time after time, babbling insults about the previous Spanish president, José María Aznar. Aznar, I will admit, is eminently insult-worthy. As president he was every bit as intolerant of different perspectives, every bit as controlling and manipulative and in love with the idea of absolute power as Chávez. (He was, you may remember, the third face in the famous pre-Iraqi-invation photo from the summit in the Azores. He aggressively pushed the idea of WMD's here in Spain, dragging the country into something the vast majority of the population wanted nothing to do with, and continued with that until earlier this year when he finally made a grudging, ill-mannered acknowledgment of their non-existence.) Lots of not-so-flattering things could be said about him, but the fact that they came from the person they came from made it an occasion of eye-rolling silliness instead of incisive political commentary. And the fact that Chávez's spewings were delivered when and in the manner that they were delivered put Zapatero -- someone who may have had some sympathy for Chávez up until then -- on the spot, casting him in the unaccustomed role of Aznar defender (defending a person who has never passed up an opportunity to speak ill of Zapatero, who once, during the campaign of 2004, compared Zapatero to Hitler -- another wonderfully ironic bit of comedy). Which he did, maintaining impressive equilibrium and poise in the face of Chávez's repeated interruptions. For instance, part of the exchange (translation mine -- video in the original Spanish here): Zapatero: It could not be said that I'm close to ex-President Aznar, but Aznar was chosen by the Spanish people, and I demand, I demand.... Chávez: Tell him to be respectful. Say that to him. Zapatero: ...I demand that respect for one reason, and.... Chávez: Say that to him, President.... Say the same to him. Juan Carlos I (King of Spain -- exasperated, to Chávez): Why don't you be quiet? Bachelet (President of Chile): Please, no dialogue. (To Chávez:) You've had time to put forth your position. (To Zapatero:) Please finish, President. Chávez: He may be Spanish, President Aznar, but he's a fascist and he's a.... Zapatero: President Hugo Chávez, I believe that there is one essential thing and a beginning of dialogue, and that is, to respect and to be respected we must try not to lapse into name-calling. Chávez: The government of Venezuela reserves the right to respond to whatever aggression wherever it happens, in whatever place and in whatever tone. You may have noticed the sudden appearance of King Juan Carlos in the middle of all that -- that detail left the people of Spain at least as astonished as the master class Chávez gave in senseless blathering. No one that I've spoken to about this could remember Juan Carlos ever doing anything similar -- he's known as an affable, even-tempered sort that has never engaged in goofy, ill-considered behavior, at least in his public capacity as a representative of the country. One friend giggled about his sudden appearance in the back-and-forth -- at the way he suddenly leaned forward as if he'd abruptly reached the end of his tether, popping into view, delivering his one fateful sentence to Chávez then slowly retiring -- amazed and delighted at the outlandishness of the event. [continued in next entry] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For a yuletide chortle: The 12 Pains of Christmas España, te quiero. rws 1:03 PM [+]
Comments:
Post a Comment
|