Poor His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain.  The old king just cannot seem to get a break this year. Any way, during last evening’s dinner for the opening of the 22nd Ibero-American Summit in Cádiz, Spain, His Majesty announced that he will have operation on his left hip on Friday, November 23, 2012.

Speaking to the guests attending the dinner His Majesty noted:

“As you can see, I have some problems of movement that have reappeared over the last few days that will oblige me to follow doctors’ recommendations and interrupt my official agenda in order to…be operated on.

Doctors recommended that I head straight for the surgery room, I wanted to postpone it at least until next week so I can be here with all of you, my Ibero-American brothers and sisters, in order to strengthen together this extraordinary assemblage of affinities and affections that is our Ibero-America …”

Poor guy.

Source: EFE

On November 15, 2012, at the Palacio Real de Madrid Her Majesty Queen Sofia of Spain presented the XXI Premio Reina Sofía de Poesía Iberoamericana (Reina Sofia Award for Latin American Poetry) to poet, activist and former Catholic priest, Mr. Ernesto Cardenal.

Born in Nicaragua, Mr. Cardenal’s works reflect:

“…his personal radicalism throughout which he denounced suffering and the exploitation of the so called banana republics, a central theme of his national song.  In May 2005 Mr. Cardenal was nominated to receive the Nobel Prize for Literature … “