MADRID, July 25: King Juan Carlos and President Hugo Chavez patched up their differences on Friday in their first meeting since the Spanish monarch told the Venezuelan leader to “shut up” at a summit last year.

The king, wearing a light grey suit and pink tie, shook hands and patted Chavez’s arm when the Venezuelan president arrived at the Marivent Palace, his summer residence in the Balearic island of Majorca in the Mediterranean.

“Why don’t we go to the beach,” joked Chavez, saying he felt as if he was in Cuba or Jamaica because of the heat.

The light-hearted exchange drew a line under the brief diplomatic spat in November last year when the king told Chavez, “Why don’t you shut up,” during the Ibero-American summit in Santiago, Chile.

Chavez had repeatedly interrupted Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero during a speech and called former conservative Spanish prime minister Jose Maria Aznar a “fascist.”

The king’s outburst became a catchphrase in the Spanish speaking world which appeared on T-shirts and was even turned into a mobile phone ringtone that was downloaded by millions of people.

At a joint press conference with Zapatero later on Friday in Madrid, Chavez said he had jokingly told the king that he owed him some money but Juan Carlos had not taken out a copyright on the phrase.

“We caused a furore with this event, it will remain as a good memory, something that we will laugh about for the rest of our lives every time we see each other,” he said, adding the king had given him a T-shirt with the famous phrase.

Chavez, dressed in a dark suit and tie, said he had invited the king and Zapatero to visit Venezuela, a former Spanish colony, next year.

He had accused the king of arrogance in the days after the outburst and he threatened to review the business of all Spanish companies in Venezuela unless the monarch issued an apology.

The strained ties between Madrid and Caracas began to ease after Zapatero invited Chavez to visit Spain when the two leaders met on the sidelines of a summit of European Union and Latin American leaders held in May in Peru.

“This was a very positive meeting, I am very pleased with what is going on today between Venezuela and Spain,” said Zapatero after holding talks for about 40 minutes with Chavez.

The two men discussed immigration and the possibility of holding of a business forum between Spanish and Venezuelan firms during their talks, Zapatero said.

Spain is a major investor in oil-rich Venezuela. Major Spanish firms like bank BBVA and oil firm Repsol have poured millions of euros into the Latin American country in recent years.—AFP