Well, he certainly told Tejero where to get off but good. I greatly admired how he handled that, which was actually serious.
Good show, Your Majesty. NPR this morning said (perhaps incorrectly?) that the King used the form/inflection of Spanish “that one would use in speaking to a small child.” 
I guess they meant that he used the tú (the informal second person singular pronoun).
Surely. I was there at the time and his actions were admirable in a moment of national panic when none of us knew for what seemed interminable hours just where we were headed – what with the specter of Franco still very much alive alive. But remember, that was a National matter. But you’re right, I should have been clearer. What I meant to write was that he’s never broken international protocol in all of his (now rather lengthy) reign. For instance, he is the only political figure head to have attended all XVII Iberoamerican Summits, and nothing close to this had ever happened – never mind the literally hundreds of international functions he’s had to attend throughout the years.
So yes, this particular – and I personally feel, justified – protocol breach, was certainly out of character for him. Again, a one of.
Sapo, good explanation about what I was trying to get across about the nuances of our language. The only thing missing was adding the all-prevailing “gilipollas*” at the end for emphasis…but I guess that is really too much to ask for a King. Even a Spanish one. 
*Typically Spanish insult/colloquialism which covers a lot of ground. Roughly meaning “twat /imbecile/a-hole/dick” and on and on. So it goes way to the point where it’s almost all-encompassing. Only your tone and context when using it denotes whether it’s meant as as a harsh insult or a josh to a friend.
You could, but if you were (speaking to a small child) you’d tend to be more direct – as in simply “callate!.” Again, the way he phrased it’s actually more grating to an adult.
Oh, I don’t know. I think most of us have him pegged pretty well, and the fact that you remain confused about him says far more about you than about Chavez.
Tell me, does he make trains run on time?
I think Brainglutton may have just been being a bit euphemistic there, Mr. Moto .
Dunno about that – can anything run on time in Latin America? – but he does make the trains run; that is, Venezuela is now AFAIK the only country in the Western Hemisphere actively expanding its rail system. An example the U.S. would do well to follow.
Pegging somebody’s character and pegging their place in history are two different things.
For example, back in the summer of 2001 I had already arrived at pretty much the same opinion of President Bush’s character that I now hold, but I would never have guessed that he was going to do many of the things that he has done in the intervening 6+ years.
Similarly, while I’ve gone on record (repeatedly) as saying that I’m extremely distrustful about Chavez’ regime and actions (besides considering him personally an overbearing dishpot), I would not wager any large sums of money on any specific guess as to what his ultimate place in history is going to be.
He’s been in power in Venezuela for less than 10 years of what looks likely to be a political career extending over at least several decades. The overall impact that he’s going to have on Venezuela, Latin America, and the Third World in general is still beyond the reach of precise prediction, if you ask me.
War of bitchslaps escalates: Chavez asks the king if he knew in advance about the 2002 coup attempt.