'Hurricane Hugo' Chavez won't shut up on tour - New Zealand's source for World News on Stuff.co.nz

'Hurricane Hugo' Chavez won't shut up on tour - New Zealand's source for World News on Stuff.co.nz Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez will not keep quiet on a tour this week of the Middle East and Europe despite being deep into a diplomatic dispute with Spain after his diatribes against the ex-colonial power.
Told to "shut up" by Spain's king at a weekend summit in Chile for calling ex-Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar a fascist, Chavez has done the opposite, launching hours of attacks against Madrid and threatening diplomatic and business ties.
Back home, he leaves a polarized country in the middle of a passionate and sometimes violent campaign for a December 2 referendum over the Cuba ally's proposal to change the constitution to let him run for the presidency indefinitely.
Chavez, who officials say averages 40 hours a week on TV, acknowledges he cannot keep his mouth closed and his tour gives some respite to those weary Venezuelans who made the king's reprimand their mobile phone ringtone.
But on a trip to Saudi Arabia, Iran, France, and possibly Portugal, the self-styled revolutionary also has a lot to say.
As leader of the No 4 US oil supplier, he takes to an Opec summit in Riyadh on Friday a plan to revamp the group into a geopolitical power that subsidizes crude for poor nations while keeping the price at a $US100 a barrel for rich countries......

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