MADRID -- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez joked Friday with King Juan Carlos, saying the Spanish monarch's new beard reminded him of Fidel Castro, further cementing a patched-up rapport with a man who once told Chavez to shut up.
"It is to change my look a bit," said the king, who grew the beard over the summer.
Later, Chavez, a lover of the limelight, was jeered by a small group of protesters as he visited a bookstore on one of Madrid's main drags at the conclusion of a brief visit that ended his tour of nine countries. The protesters called Chavez a murderer and a dictator.
During his swing through Europe, North Africa, the Middle East, Russia and former Soviet satellites, Chavez did not avoid controversy. In Tehran, he said he would sell Iran gasoline _ a step that would help the country if it is hit with new sanctions over its nuclear program. In Moscow, he gave Russia a boost by recognizing two Russian-backed Georgian regions as independent, becoming only the third country to do so and drawing criticism from the United States.
The visit to Spain was more low-key.
Besides paying a brief courtesy call on the king, Chavez met briefly with Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero and discussed energy issues and Spanish investment in oil-rich Venezuela.
Spain said the visit was a private one that had been requested by Chavez. Zapatero held no new conference with his guest. The prime minister's office said Zapatero had a packed agenda and had to fly to Paris later for talks with President Nicolas Sarkozy.
At a news conference after a Cabinet meeting Friday, the government was asked by reporters why Zapatero was receiving "a dictator."
"Spain has political relations with all Ibero-American countries, including Venezuela," said Deputy Prime Minister Maria Teresa Fernandez de la Vega.
Chavez last visited Spain in July 2008. That trip was mainly aimed at sealing a rift from the previous year when the normally reserved Spanish monarch had said to Chavez to "why don't you shut?" during an Ibero-American summit. That was because the Venezuelan leader had repeatedly criticized former Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar.
Chavez arrived in Madrid from Moscow. He also visited Italy, Belarus, Turkmenistan, Libya, Algeria, Syria and Iran in recent days.
The Spanish government said he and Zapatero discussed prospects for increased Spanish investment in Venezuela as well as recent agreements under which Venezuela has agreed to provide Spain with 1.37 million barrels of oil a year, and Spain will build a $2 billion electricity plant in eastern Venezuela.
Also discussed were November's Ibero-American summit in Portugal and next year's summit of European Union, Latin American and Caribbean nations to be held in Madrid during Spain's six-month presidency of the EU.
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