Finally, two world leaders have stood up to the trash-talking tyrant Hugo Ch·vez, who is the president (perhaps for life?) of Venezuela.

Indeed, King of Spain Juan Carlos told Ch·vez to ìshut upî last Saturday during a heated exchange at a summit ó in Santiago, Chile ó of leaders from Latin America, Spain and Portugal.

Earlier, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, Spainís current socialist prime minister, was in the middle of his talk as Ch·vez, several seats over, repeatedly referred to former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar as a ìfascist.î

Calmly, Zapatero veered from his speech and used part of his alloted time to urge the Venezeulan dictator to be more diplomatic in his words and respect other leaders despite political differences.

ìAznar was democratically elected by the Spanish people and was a legitimate representative of the Spanish people,î Zapatero said, triggering applause from the leaders there. ìPresident Hugo Ch·vez, I think there is an essential principle to dialogue, and that is, to respect and be respected, we should be careful not to fall into insults.î

Undeterred, Ch·vez repeatedly tried to interrupt.

At that point, Juan Carlos, seated next to Zapatero, angrily turned to Ch·vez and said, ìWhy donít you shut up?î

Ch·vez reportedly responded that he had been democratically elected three times óand noted that the king had not.

Later in the proceedings, Ch·vez used time ceded to him by his close ally Daniel Ortega, the Nicaraguan president, to answer Zapatero, noting, ìI do not offend by telling the truth.î

To his credit, Juan Carlos walked out.

Of course, Ch·vez had made headlines with such talk before, most notably by calling President Bush the ìdevilî on the floor of the United Nations last year. This time, however, someone called his bluff.

Zapatero showed integrity in defending Aznar, a rival on the opposite end of the political spectrum. He told Ch·vez of the ideological differences he himself had with his conservative predecessor, but said Aznar still deserved respect. The king showed firm resolve and backed Zapatero through his actions.

Spainís prime minister has claimed he wants to be friends with everyone and is a man who prefers to ìjaw-jaw, not war-war.î However, he also established where the line cannot be crossed.

Rarely in Spainís history has there been such a shining moment in which both the prime minister and the king stood so tall in the eyes of the world.