By: KENNETH MAXWELL

Folha de São Paulo - Op-ed section - page A2     

King Juan Carlos of Spain has confronted colonels before his now famous contretemps with Colonel Hugo Chavez last week at the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile. On 23 February 1981, Colonel Antonio Tejero of Spain's paramilitary Civil Guard had stormed the Spanish parliament.

With the government held hostage, and the loyalty of the armed forces in doubt, Juan Carlos had rallied the military to the side of democracy and thwarted the coup. This was a decisive moment in Spain's democratic transition and it consolidated the prestige of the new monarchy.
The king is older now (almost 70 years) and it seems he has considerably less patience. This time, in the face of Colonel Chavez's diatribes against the former head of the Spanish government, Jose Maria Aznar, the usually phlegmatic monarch lost his cool. He angrily told Chavez what many others over the years must have wanted to say out loud: "porque no te callas?" Not a kingly phrase to be sure, but very much to the point, and widely applauded at home. The King's outburst, however, handed to Colonel Chavez an exquisite "Bolivarian" moment: The Venezuelan rebel on his (metaphorical) horseback with a Spanish Bourbon monarch wagging his finger at him; all good theatre two hundred years after the Venezuelan fight for independence from Spain; but not an image the inventors of these Ibero-American summits had in mind for the post-colonial epoch of democratic sweetness and light.

The only surprising thing in all this is that no one has lost their temper long ago at these tedious road shows. These "summits" have become a thorough waste of time and money, devoid of real content or purpose, and only serve to provoke trouble on the streets and provide a perfect platform for populist demagogues like Chavez. A public forum driven by words and not actions tends inevitably to aggravate disputes not resolve them. At least these Ibero-American conclaves do not insist, as the ASEAN summits do, that the participants dress up at the end in ill fitting colored shirts and "traditional" costumes for their post summit group photo op. But this is a very small mercy. It is time the whole summitry charade was put on hold for a while to give us all, and not least King Juan Carlos, a well deserved rest.

KENNETH MAXWELL is a weekly op-ed columnist (every Thursday) for Folha de São Paulo, Brazil's leading newspaper.