Spanish king's retort to Chávez strikes chord

MIAMI — A weekend rant by the king of Spain against Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez has become a mobile-phone ringtone, edited DJ-scratch style with looping emphasis on "shut up."

So when a protester saunters around Miami or Caracas, and a call comes in, King Juan Carlos' voice announces it with an impatient "por qué no te callas?" (why don't you shut up?).

"I knew the phrase would make history," said Juan Antonio Morales, 34, of Almeria, Spain, who came up with the idea after the news broke of the public spat. "People haven't stopped calling me."

On Saturday, Chávez repeatedly interrupted Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero during a summit of leaders from Latin America and Portugal, prompting the Spanish king's outburst.

"Por qué no te callas?" has registered strongly around the hemisphere and across the Atlantic. A budding entrepreneur in Miami is planning to sell T-shirts on eBay.

For Aracelis Nass, president of FIU's Venezuelan student group, the incident has shed needed attention on the political crisis gripping Venezuela, where Chávez is trying to change the Venezuelan constitution to gain more political power.

The phrase has even become a de facto greeting among some Venezuelans in Miami.

"Yesterday I went to a show, and I saw a friend I haven't seen in a long time, and I was like, 'Hey, what's up?' and he just told me, 'Por qué no te callas?," said Alejandro Caceres, 23, former president of the Venezuelan Student Association at Florida International University, who's planning to make the T-shirts.