Venezuela's Chavez wraps up European swing with hug-and-make-up visit to Spain

MADRID, Spain -- Hugo Chavez was on a hug-and-make-up visit to Spain on Friday, his first since a now-infamous exchange in which Spain's normally reserved monarch told the voluble Venezuelan leader to "shut up" at a summit in Chile last year. Chavez arrived an hour late for an appointment at the monarch's summer residence on Mallorca where he was greeted by King Juan Carlos, Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos -- and watched by a mass of photographers and TV crews. "Why don't we head for the beach?" Chavez joked with the king. The king smiled, shook hands and welcomed Chavez warmly. After the breakfast meeting at the Marivent Palace, Chavez was to fly to Madrid for talks with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in the afternoon. Officially, the trip is being billed as an opportunity to discuss bilateral relations... [read full story]