The mourning and the bastards

Yesterday, the widow of the guardia civil (policeman) killed on the Basque Autonomy Region, thanked on a press conference to the basque people, “who transmitted me yesterday all its strength and dignity”. Once again, in opposition to those bastards that are pressing the trigger, once again, the victims are acting as a whole example of dignity. Personally, I would use different and more insulting words to those criminals, but this is my way of acting on the last times.

Yesterday also, while all Spain respected her mourning, the Basque autonomic parliament approved a motion accusig the Spanish government of “protecting without exeption” and “sistematicly” to the Spanish police of the denunciation of tortures declared by the arrested on the terrorist fight. If the victims are showing an example of dignity, on this parliament, which does not represtent anything, the example is of cowardice and malice. The Basque autonomic government, leaded by Mr. Ibarreche, is pursuing a referendum of self-determination of the Basque country, to be converted on something he name “Freely Associate State”, as similar to Puerto Rico with the USA. He wants the Basque Country to be a sepparate nation, but with all the privileges: no commercial duties fo export to Spain and the EU, and being part of the EU. But… well, I assume Mr. Ibarreche is a clever guy, but we are not dummies.

But Mr. Ibarreche and the whole PNV (Basque nationalist party) does not have any legitimation to do so. For various reasons. First, because there is no reason, historic or juridical, that legitimate this option. Second, because by doing so, he is agains half of the Basques. Third, because the PNV has never, never, been neutral. The PNV had never shown a respect for the victims, for the half of the Basque society that is not thinking as him or as ETA. The PNV has always supported, in some way, the ETA fight against Spain. Because they think that, when this fight is finnish and ETA will prevail, the PNV will be seen as the real legitimate party, and ETA and its satellites will be on the illegality. Nice argument, but… unbelievable!

The mourning of the victims of ETA is the mourning of the Spanish nation. It is because there are some bastards that are killing innocent people, people that are serving Spain. But I tend to think that there are bastards not only on ETA; I tend to think that the bastardy is installed, for a long time, on some members of some autonomic parliaments.

 

Caution! Mr. Zapatero is in a summit!

Mr. Zapatero flew to a summit in Lima, Perú. The summit between the European Union and the Latin American countries. Frankly, I do not know the real purpose of this summit. But what I know is that Mr. Chavez will attend the meeting. And Mr. Correa. And Mr. Lula da Silva. But also will attend the European leaders.

Mr. Zapatero is deploying his more charming efforts to this meeting to be a success. He just met with the Brazilian and Peruvian presidents. And he showed, as usual, the smile on his face. And he is making comments disminishing the effects of Mr. Chavez recent attacks to Mr. Merkel, and trying to minimize the differences which may occur with regard to the incident on the last Latin American summit between Mr. Chavez and the King of Spain.

Politics is not about smiling. Politics is not about minimizing confrontation. Politics is about having a position as a country, as a party, as a leader, and understand the different options. And them, defining scenarios and their consequences. And taking decissions. Politics is about maintaining the principles and looking to a way to agree with the other parts. Politics is about looking, when possible, to a win-win relationship.

But, does Mr. Zapatero understand it? Or… does he need two or three evenings to understand it? And the essential: does Mr. Zapatero has a position on the international scenario? Does he have principles? Does he understand the diferent options? Or… will he be smiling all the time without offering nothing? Or… will he be sitting on his chair while the real leaders talk and discuss things?

Mr. Zapatero does not have such concept of the international politics. He only acts as a fireman sorrounded by fire. He only figth the closer, the one which is near him. But does not have a real vision of the problem. And it is a shame. Because the Spanish are paying his mistakes.

 

Behind the scenes

One of the worst things on the PP (Spanish Partido Popular) is the people behind the scenes. Now it happens that there is a person, called Mr. Lasalle, who nobody knew before the elections of March, 9th. Now it happens that Mr. Lasalle is the new guru of the party. And this guru is stating that the direction of the PP is to be on the left side of the center of the policial spectrum. And this left side means to do not make any noise. And this left side means to approach to the nationalists parties. And this left side will lead the PP to the victory.

This new course of the PP ship is a course to nowhere. Is a course to the disaster. First because it means resigning to the essential: the principles of the party. The idea of Spain. The idea of the traditional family. The idea of the tradition. I talked about this before.

Second because by going nowhere there are people that are leaving the ship. Leaving the ship first for leaving space for the new PP direction. But also because they feel they are not being treated fairly. The new course of the PP means reviling the previous people, because of their image. And now the situation is worst: they are people on the PP party complaining about this renouncing to the principles. People such as María San Gil, that are risking their lives on the Basque Country (Vascongadas) defending the principles that the new course denies.

I must admit I did never knew or heard about that Mr. Lasalle. But his new role as the ideological guru on the PP is something that sucks. Not only because the renouncing to the principles. It sucks also because he is offending and humiliating those people that are defending them, risking their lifes for them. Is Mr. Lasalle doing the same, living the same life that Mrs. San Gil? By the way… Who are you, Mr. Lasalle? Where have you been the last four, twelve years? What is your political curriculum? What right do you have to be on the position you are, or under what prerrogative are you acting that way against the people that are defending the principles that led the PP to be on the current position, 10 million of votes?

But the real thing is… Who defend those people? Mr. Rajoy is not doing this. Mr. Rajoy wants to be on the middle, as usual on him. Doing nothing. Looking the time going by.

 

ETA killed again

Yesterday, the terrorist band ETA killed again. A person is dead. A family is broken. Why?

ETA is following the same strategy on the same direction. More than 30 years, and ETA is still alive. The beast is still alive.

But five years ago, ETA was suffering the unbreathly fight of the Spanish government. Mr. Aznar put all his efforts to defeat ETA. True, he commited some mistakes (first is to call ETA as the Movement for Basque Liberation). But the real purpose was the end of the band. No negotiations including political issues. No negotiation including offending the victims of the band. Nothing. Just the end.

When Mr. Zapatero (ZP) arrived to the Spanish government, the idea was to dialog with everybody, Including the terrorists. The “goodism” strategy was on top of all. And when talking to the terrorist group - as he, as the Spanish Prime Minister, can do -, he resigned to the principles. He resigned of the idea of Spain. He decided to make some concessions. Some big concessions: Navarre will join on a future the Basque Country Autonomic Region; the terrorists will go out of the jails and will have some reduction on their sentences; and so on. He allowed the ETA political party to be represented on the municipalitis. This was as a result of an electoral calculation, trying to throw the PNV (the so called moderated basque nacionalist party) out of the governments of the cities and villages.

This, all of this, was an insult to the victims of ETA, to whom we must honour. This was also the break of the rules. The break of the idea that ETA must be defeated. The idea was that the terrorists will join the Spanish society with their hands washed.

Mr. Zapatero denied everything. He denied the conversations, as well as the concessions. But he admited just some weeks ago that this was true. He tried to play the “goodism” with ETA, he tried to play with ETA as he he played and lied to the Spanish. But the beast is intelligent, more than Mr. Zapatero. And ETA is still alive. And, what a pity, Mr. Zapatero is still the Spanish Prime Minister. Even lying.

Now ETA killed again. And Mr. Zapatero is saying that the end of ETA is near. Who will trust on Mr. Zapatero? Unfortunately, there are people who do this.

My condolences to the families.

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I have taken a look to the BBC website and they are still using wrong terms to refer to ETA. As I said on a previous post, ETA is a terrorist band. Not a separatist band.

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Additional note: I am self-taught in English. And, above all, I can make mistakes. So please forgive my bad English.

History re-written: the catalonians

Catalonia (Cataluña; Catalunya) has never been a nation. Similar to the Basque Country. The history, also with this Autonomous Comunity, has been re-written for the nationalists.

The origin of the nationalism in Catalonia began with Francisco Cambó, leader of the Liga Regionalista. On the peak of the nationalism all over Europe, Mr. Cambó founded this conservative party. His most renowned exploit is the assault to a nationalism newspaper. The next “generation” became with Francisco Maciá founder of the Estat Catalá party, which, together with other parties, constituted Esquerra Republicana de Cataluña (ERC). Over the Second Republic period, Cataluña had some specific status of autonomy, with a government leaded by Francesc Maciá. On 1.934, this goverment participated on the attempt of a coupe d’état together with the PSOE, on Asturias and Barcelona. After the winning of general Francisco Franco on the Spanish Civil War, nothing was heard about ERC opposition to the regime. Only on the last years, there was a terrorist group called Terra LLiure (Free Land) that performed some terrorist actions. Including the murder of people. Now, some renowned people on Spain defends the idea that some members of this terrorist group are now on ERC. ERC is participating on the government of the Catalonia region. And some on them are also governing cities or villages.

On the Middle Age, Catalonia was the border between the Franks and the muslims. It has never been a kingdom. Just counties. True, on 1.258 the French Kingdom gave the privilege of the Principality of Catalonia. But it was linked to the Aragon kingdom, one of the major kingdoms of the medieval Spain, together with Castille and Navarre. But from threre, Catalonia was always under the govern of the Aragon king. There were some other kingdoms on Spain, as can be perceived on the Spanish symbols: Murcia, Valencia, Granada. But never, never, Catalonia.

Other than this, the argument of the Catalonian nationalists is based on the fight of the Barcelona inhabitants against king Felipe the Fifth, on the Spanish Sucession War (around 1.700). There was a revolt of the Barcelona inhabitants, true, but it was never against Spain. It was against Felipe the Fifth, but supporting the candidate Archduke Charles from Austria. There is a legend about the 11th of September, but this is just a legend. The main people that participated on this revolt were afterwards lived on the Spanish Kingdom of Felipe the Fifth.

So the argument that Catalonia has been a state, or a kingdom, is just that: a legend. And thus, false. Also the legend about the 11th of September is just a fight between two different armies, two different candidates to the throne of Spain.

Another example of a lie that repeated thousand times must be a true. But it is still a lie. In spite of the efforts of the nationalists to manipulate the history. It is just false. And always will be.

 

Frías and Oña

During the time I was living on the north of Spain, I have time to visit, on the week-ends, the roots of the Castilian kingdom. Castille means that: land of castles. But not only are castles in Castille; there are also fabulous and very ancient villages. Examples: Ponferrada, Lerma, Carrión de los Condes. I remember specially one of the trips, and my detour to the way to Bilbao to two special villages: Oña and Frías.

Frías is an old and paved villa, situated on the north of the province of Burgos. It has an old story, back to the Paleolithic age. But the nice and charm things of this village are its strait streets, plain of stone houses. In the middle of the village there is the monastery of San Salvador. It is extremely wonderful to dive into this monastery. Get into it and find the sepulchers of wood of the first kings of Castille (in fact, there were not kings) and their children is something special. It is unique in Spain: usually these sepulchers are made of stone. But you can also visit the cloister, and listen to the silence. Then walking down the streets and stop on any bar to have some refreshments is a must.

More on the north of Spain there is another beautiful village: Frías. While Oña is a nice village to walk on, Frías is very different. Surrounded by the walls of the castle, Frías is having its 8th century. It is a real pleasure to walk by its paved streets (good exercise!), to climbe to the castle, some of its walls destroyed by the French during the Napoleon invasion of Spain. And from the top of the walls, to look to the roman (or medieval?) bridge over the Ebro river. There are good places to eat, whether inside the village, or on the nearby.

Two beautiful jewels to discover inside Castille. Inside Spain.

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The websites of the two villages are: www.ayuntamientoona.com for Oña; www.ciudaddefrias.com for Frías (both only on Spanish). And also the website of Castilla y León: www.jcyl.es

 

A thought about Mr. Correa tour

The tour of Mr. Correa (Ecuador’s president) all over Europe is, simply, an exercise of image. Mr. Correa only wants to present himself as a state man in front of the European leaders confronting the, according to him, authoritarian image of Mr. Uribe, president of Colombia. This is clear after the meeting with Mr. Zapatero, yesterday.

On the last months, there was a tour de force between the two countries with regard to the fighting of the Colombian guerrilla. The determination of Mr. Uribe to combat this terrorist group has been an element that other countries, such as Ecuador or Venezuela does not like, Why? For various reasons. First is the alignment of Uribe’s politic with the desires of the USA administration. Second, and also important, because Mr. Uribe represents the liberalism, as opposition to the new wave of Latin American: populism. Mr. Chavez wants all the Latin America to be on the same socialism, and thus is doing efforts to destabilize the area. In some countries he had success: Ecuador, Argentina, Bolivia; on other, he failed, such as Peru.

Mr. Uribe’s efforts on fighting the Colombian guerrilla are a fight for the liberty on Latin America; are a fight for principles. Mr. Uribe knows exactly what he wants, as the other leaders, but he wants to have a better Latin America for the future. His fight is a fight for peace, economic prosperity and liberty. Mr. Correa, and his referent, Mr. Chavez, do not want so.

Spanish monarchy and republicanism

The Spanish king Juan Carlos the First is recognized all over the world for his exceptional role on the political and social transition in Spain. And nobody denies this, although there has been some shadows on this period, from 1.975 to 1.985.

I can say I was a monarchic myself time ago. I have my sharm with respect to this figure. But now I cannot say the same. There have been some facts or thoughts that made me change my mind. First, and I assume that this may not be shares with American points of view, the, let us say, joining on the family of some people. Yes, the Spanish monarchy has been “democratized”, but I am an old-fashioned person, and I do not like that persons such as a handball player or a journalist become members of the Spanish royal family. And worse, I do not like, if this is true, that this kind of people will take advantage of their position to have better professional posts. Also, some other shadows on the Spanish king are the possible relationships of him with some Spanish businessmen with, let us say, problems with the justice.

My commentary on here is about the comments of Juan Carlos with respect Mr. Zapatero. The Spanish king said that Mr. Zapatero is a honest person, with the things clear. Juan Carlos has showed always a lot of respect for the socialists leaders such as Mr. González and Mr. Zapatero. But he did not showed the same respect or affection for Mr. Aznar. It is maybe because of Mr. Aznar personality, but it can also be because of Mr. Aznar’s political direction: he managed personally all the key issues and events of the Spanish political affairs. This, from my point of view, disminished the visibility of king Juan Carlos, but the Spanish constitution led him only a representative and moderation.

I cannot see any reason for the affection of king Juan Carlos for the socialists, taking into account thar Mr. Zapatero ideas are close to the republicanism, and this is against the Spanish monarchy. But I am not the Spanish king. And, of course, I am not receiving money for the Spanish budget.

 

My view on the American elections

It is a little bit late, but I would like to give my opinion about the American elections, from a Spanish person point of view, Spanish person who lived for over a year on St. Petersburg, Florida.

First, from the republican side, my first candidate was Mr. Giuliani. But I was very surpresed of his strategy focusing, at the end, on Florida and leaving other states our of his range. And now I think Mr. McCain is a good candidate, with a good background, and well established on the American society. Time ago I was thinking he needed to convince to the republican bases, due to, on some aspects, his ideas more democrats. But not now.

On the democrat side, there is a huge fight between the “establishment” and the new. Mrs. Clinton represents the past, the good and the bad of the period of her husband: economy and foreign affairs; civil rights and social advances. On the other hand. Mr. Obama represents the new, a new generation, and the opportunity of a black person on the White House. I would say that, on this party, Americans have to choose between the bad and the worse. If I have a lot of concerns about Mrs. Clinton, I think personally that Mr. Obama is American’s Zapatero; American’s ZP. I would say Mr. Obama is an empty person, no ideas (either good or bad); no past; just image.

So my prediction is Mr. McCain to win USA elections. Because he has ideas, he is honest and have something new to offer to the American people. Anyway, I hope not to be as Mr. Zapatero (ZP): a real disaster as a fortune-teller.

Intromission to my individual rights

One of the cornerstones of Mr. Zapatero (I repeat, ZP from now on) is to change the shape of the Spanish society. He can’t prevent it: it is in his masonist and vengeful nature. Now, in the middle of a huge economic crisis in Spain, that he and his government atributes to the globalization of the economy (”this is a global economic crisis; its origin is in the USA), he pretends not to do anything about it and concentrate in attacking our beliefs.

Yes. Yesterday, Mrs. De la Vega (Spanish vice-president) pointed out that the priority of this government is to go deeper on the “individual rights”. What rights? Well, rights such as that the State must settle the principles of the individual ethics, as ZP tries to do by the addition of a new subject to the education of the students called “Educación para la Ciudadanía” (Education for the Citizenship), conceived as a way to educate children on extreme socialists ideas and concepts. Or, furthermore, by allowing the union of homosexual couples and call them a “marriage”. I am not against the union of homosexual couples, but calling it a marriage is an offense to the concept of marriage itself.

This was done in the past four years. Now, ZP is willing to go further, and announces the laicism of the Spanish society. ZP: the Spanish society is already laicist; it is in its laws and its Constitution. What you want is simple: to insult the catholic roots of Spain, by insulting the Catholic Church. If you want to do this, please say so, but do not dress this in rethoric words. And, if you want to do this because of the communiqué the Catholic Church in Spain issued on the election period giving some moral recommendations about the exercise of voting, please say so. Because Mr. Blanco (PSOEs secretary general)expeled some threats as a response to this communiqué. But, again the hypocrisy on the PSOE: the islamist association leader in Spain issued a communiqué recommending to vote PSOE to the muslims on Spain. Reactions on the PSOE? None.

On a scenario of economic crisis, either this is something to divert the attention to the important, or is an attack to my personal (and all the Spanish personals) beliefs. And no government, no state, can interfere on my personal freedom. You, Mr. Zapatero, you have not the power to dominate my liberty.