Amid flap, Venezuela's Chavez warns on Spanish banks

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Tuesday things "will not go well" for Spanish banks if Madrid heightens tensions in a diplomatic flap over the country's king telling him to shut up.

King Juan Carlos asked Chavez "why don't you shut up" at a summit in Chile over the weekend after Chavez interrupted a speech by Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero.

The leftist who had used the meeting to rail against conservative ex-Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar, has said the rebuke is reminiscent of Spanish colonial rule in Latin America.

"Spanish investment in Venezuela is not indispensable for us, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya, Banco Santander ... we don't need them," Chavez said at a news conference.

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