Watch a video clip of the conference row

The diplomatic row between Hugo Chavez and Spain intensified yesterday as the Venezuelan president demanded to know the Spanish monarch’s knowledge of a coup that briefly removed the Socialist leader from power.

Mr Chavez, who was in Chile for the Ibero-American summit, claimed that Spain’s ambassador had appeared at Venezuela’s presidential palace during the two-day coup in 2002 to support the interim president Pedro Carmona.

Mr Chavez insisted that such support could only have been sanctioned with the Spanish King’s blessing.

His comments followed the public spat in which Spanish King Juan Carlos told Chavez to “shut up” during an increasingly acrimonious summit.

The King’s outburst came moments after the president had called Spain’s former prime minister, Jose Maria Aznar, a “fascist” for backing the coup. At the end of the conference, Mr Chavez asked to what extent Juan Carlos had supported the coup.

“Mr King, did you know about the coup d’etat against Venezuela, against the democratic, legitimate government of Venezuela in 2002?” he said at a press conference yesterday.

“It’s very hard to imagine the Spanish ambassador would have been at the presidential palace supporting the coup-plotters without authorization from his majesty.”

No one was available to comment at the Spanish embassy in Caracas, Venezuela, or at the royal palace in Madrid, Spain, yesterday.

The fracas began when Mr Chavez accused Mr Aznar, of backing the 2002 coup and repeatedly called him “fascist” in an address at the summit of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

“Fascists are not human. A snake is more human,” Mr Chavez said during the conference. Spain’s current socialist prime minister, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, asked Mr Chavez to be more diplomatic and show respect for other leaders despite political differences.

“President Hugo Chavez, I think there is an essential principle to dialogue, and that is, to respect and be respected, we should be careful not to fall into insults,” Mr Zapatero said.

Mr Chavez continued to interrupt as Zapatero spoke, although his microphone was switched off.

A frustrated King Juan Carlos, sitting next to Mr Zapatero, leaned toward Mr Chavez and said: “Why don’t you shut up?” The monarch then left the chamber.

“They told me some Spanish officials grabbed him by the arm, because he’s strong and tall. He acted like an angry bull as he stormed out,” Mr Chavez recalled in comments published yesterday by Spain’s El Mundo newspaper.

“I’m no bullfighter, but ole!” he added.

Mr Chavez, who faces violent protests at home against a proposed constitutional reform package that would greatly boost his power, said the incident had been exaggerated by the media.

“I hope this will not damage relations,” Mr Chavez said as he left his Santiago hotel room. “But I think it’s imprudent for a king to shout at a president to shut up.”

Mr Chavez regularly accuses Washington of helping orchestrate the 2002 coup against him, a charge US officials deny.

US and Spanish ambassadors did meet with Mr Carmona and his newly appointed foreign minister on April 13, 2002, hours before Mr Chavez was restored to power following massive demonstrations.

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