¿Por qué no te callas?

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The 2007 Ibero America Summit; the king, Zapatero and Chavez are seated on the right.

¿Por qué no te callas? ( Pronunciation : [ poɾˈke no te ˈkaʎas ]) is a sentence that the then Spanish King Juan Carlos I said to Venezuela's President Hugo Chávez during the Ibero-America summit in 2007 in Santiago de Chile ( Chile ) when he was speaking of Spain's Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero repeatedly interrupted.

translation

« ¿Por qué no te callas? »Literally means:“ Why aren't you silent? ”This Spanish phrase is considered rude and can be translated as“ Why aren't you shut up? ”Or“ Why aren't you shut up? ”.

process

At the November 10, 2007 meeting, Zapatero angered Chavez by pointing out that Latin America had to become more attractive to financial investors in order to combat the chronically growing poverty, but that Chavez's left-wing politics deter investors from outside.

Chavez then repeatedly interrupted Zapatero's speech and described his predecessor in office, José María Aznar, as a " fascist " and as "more inhuman than a snake". Aznar was also accused by Chávez of participating in the 2002 coup against him .

Zapatero replied that his predecessor Aznar, whose policies he otherwise criticizes, was legally elected by the Spanish people.

Although Hugo Chávez's microphone was turned off in the meantime, he repeated his accusations monotonously. The Spanish king then leaned forward and said to Chavez, « ¿Por qué no te callas? »He used the duz form te (the Spanish reflexive pronoun to tú ) instead of the formal se (reflexive pronoun to usted ). The statement by the Spanish king resulted in a call for order from Chilean President Michelle Bachelet , who chaired the meeting.

Juan Carlos left the meeting room shortly after when Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega accused Spain of meddling in his country's elections and criticized the presence of Spanish energy companies in Nicaragua.

In its assessment, the New York Times found that the incident highlighted "the ongoing difficult relations between Spain and its former colonies".

According to Time Magazine , Chavez felt provoked by Zapatero's findings that Latin America needed foreign capital to cope with growing poverty. Chávez held capitalism responsible for the situation and saw the only solution in socialism and had therefore started the verbal battle against "Aznar and other 'fascists' of the free market".

At the EU-Latin America summit in 2008, the Spanish Prime Minister Zapatero conveyed a conciliatory message from Juan Carlos to Chavez. In July 2008, a reconciliation meeting between Juan Carlos and Chavez took place at the summer residence of the Spanish king in Palma . Hugo Chávez quipped referring to the hot weather on Mallorca , which reminds him of the Caribbean, with the question « ¿Por qué no vamos a la playa? »(German:“ Why don't we go to the beach? ”).

Popularity of the phrase

The phrase achieved cult status among young people in Spain and Latin America. A ringtone for cell phones was quickly circulated with this phrase; this was accompanied by a reggaeton beat - a very popular music genre in Latin America and Spain  - and from then on it could be heard on many cell phones. Humorists took on the topic in a cabaret manner. In Argentina , a format of the TV station Telefe was named after this sentence.

See also

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kas.de (PDF; 15 kB)
  2. ↑ Page no longer available , search in web archives: Spaniens Allgemeine Zeitung@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / www.saz-aktuell.com
  3. ^ Spiegel Online
  4. ↑ a b c Shut up, Spain king tells Chavez (English) , British Broadcasting Corporation . November 10, 2007. Retrieved May 15, 2008. 
  5. ↑ a b Tim Padgett: Behind the King's Rebuke to Chávez ( English ) Time . November 12, 2007. Retrieved May 15, 2008.
  6. ↑ YouTube video
  7. ↑ El Rey Don Juan Carlos a Hugo Chávez: "¿Por qué no te callas?" (Spanish) , Antena 3 . November 11, 2007. 
  8. ↑ Simon Romero: When a Mother Country Tells Its Kid, "Shut up" (English) . In: New York Times , November 25, 2007. Retrieved May 15, 2008. "the unendingly complicated relations between Spain and its former colonies" 
  9. ↑ Zapatero transmite a Chavez un mensaje conciliador del Rey . el pais.com, May 18, 2008
  10. ↑ Agencia Atlas: Chavez al Rey: ¿Por qué no vamos a la playa? elpais.com, July 25, 2008 (Spanish)