Madrid — A lieutenant-general warns the army might intervene if the government grants too much home rule to a wealthy northeastern region. Days later, a captain publicly warns the Prime Minister of widespread unease at how the country is being “dismembered.”
Nearly three decades after Spain returned to democracy following the death of dictator General Francisco Franco, outbursts by senior military officers are still a part of the political landscape. That sets the nation apart from the rest of Western Europe, where the military has long given up designs on political power.
“I cannot imagine a similar situation in a European country other than one like Spain, where the army was in power for so long,” said Professor Paul Preston, an expert on Spanish history at the London School of Economics. “It harks back to Franco's way of thinking.”
The recent scandal has embarrassed Spain's Socialist government, though it has played down the officers' comments as isolated incidents rather than evidence of a wider insurrection.
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A government spokesman blamed the controversy on the opposition Popular Party, saying the motive was political gain. The right-wing party has said that the general's comments were out of line but the logical result of government policies that have raised doubts about Spain's future as a nation.
“There is absolutely no problem with the military,” Luis Cuadrado, the Socialists' Defence Ministry spokesman, told the Associated Press. “What is a problem and what wouldn't happen elsewhere in Europe is that a political party, like the Popular Party, instead of condemning the general's remarks tries to use them for political gain.”
The polemic comes amid a bitter debate over the Socialists' willingness to agree on a new charter for Catalonia, one of the country's 17 regions, that would grant the powerful region greater self-rule.
The Spanish and Catalan governments insist that the charter would help modernize Spain and is not a step toward separatism.
Speaking to fellow officers earlier this month, however, Lt.-Gen. Jose Mena Aguado hinted at military intervention after warning of “serious consequences for the armed forces” if the charter were approved.
The government arrested the general, then quickly cashiered him.
Just as ruling politicians were attempting to play down the case, another army officer, Captain Roberto Gonzalez Calderon, warned in an open letter to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero that the government was ignoring the issue at its own peril.
“Mr. Prime Minister, what your advisers told you is not true, nor are the interpretations that have been made,” read the letter, published in the Melilla Hoy newspaper. “There is unease both within and outside the armed forces, as could only be the case. Unease over seeing how our Spain is being dismembered.”
Military intervention was not uncommon in Spain during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most notable case in recent times was Franco's rebellion in 1936 against the democratic republican government, which touched off the three-year Spanish Civil War. He then ruled Spain, often ruthlessly, between 1939 and his death in 1975.
In 1981, three years after the return to democracy, paramilitary Civil Guards attempted a coup, which was quashed after King Juan Carlos ordered troops back to their barracks. Historians say there were other coup attempts after Franco's death that never became public.
Spain's military, like the country itself, has come a long way since then. Today it is a member of NATO, shares bases with U.S. troops and has some 3,000 soldiers on UN peace missions abroad.
While there seems no likelihood of an actual insurrection, the tone and language of the officers comments are a reminder that the army's role is still a highly charged subject.
“Spain's military establishment still hasn't undergone the democratic recycling that is imperative,” said Josu Erkoreka, spokesman for the Basque National Party in parliament.
Mr. Preston said that “the military academy under Franco was trained to believe that their principal function was to defend Spain from internal, rather than external enemies.”
Mr. Preston said reform of the military did not get under way until after the 1981 coup, so there are still many holdovers among older officers, such as the 60-year-old Gen. Mena.
“It's possible 20 per cent or even more of senior officers think like Gen. Mena but are probably too smart to say anything in public,” he said.
He got no argument from Mr. Cuadrado, the government defence spokesman.
“Army officers can think whatever way they want, just like judges, doctors or farmers,” he said. “What matters is that they don't let it interfere with their professional duties.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060127.wspain0127/BNStory/International/
Nearly three decades after Spain returned to democracy following the death of dictator General Francisco Franco, outbursts by senior military officers are still a part of the political landscape. That sets the nation apart from the rest of Western Europe, where the military has long given up designs on political power.
“I cannot imagine a similar situation in a European country other than one like Spain, where the army was in power for so long,” said Professor Paul Preston, an expert on Spanish history at the London School of Economics. “It harks back to Franco's way of thinking.”
The recent scandal has embarrassed Spain's Socialist government, though it has played down the officers' comments as isolated incidents rather than evidence of a wider insurrection.
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A government spokesman blamed the controversy on the opposition Popular Party, saying the motive was political gain. The right-wing party has said that the general's comments were out of line but the logical result of government policies that have raised doubts about Spain's future as a nation.
“There is absolutely no problem with the military,” Luis Cuadrado, the Socialists' Defence Ministry spokesman, told the Associated Press. “What is a problem and what wouldn't happen elsewhere in Europe is that a political party, like the Popular Party, instead of condemning the general's remarks tries to use them for political gain.”
The polemic comes amid a bitter debate over the Socialists' willingness to agree on a new charter for Catalonia, one of the country's 17 regions, that would grant the powerful region greater self-rule.
The Spanish and Catalan governments insist that the charter would help modernize Spain and is not a step toward separatism.
Speaking to fellow officers earlier this month, however, Lt.-Gen. Jose Mena Aguado hinted at military intervention after warning of “serious consequences for the armed forces” if the charter were approved.
The government arrested the general, then quickly cashiered him.
Just as ruling politicians were attempting to play down the case, another army officer, Captain Roberto Gonzalez Calderon, warned in an open letter to Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero that the government was ignoring the issue at its own peril.
“Mr. Prime Minister, what your advisers told you is not true, nor are the interpretations that have been made,” read the letter, published in the Melilla Hoy newspaper. “There is unease both within and outside the armed forces, as could only be the case. Unease over seeing how our Spain is being dismembered.”
Military intervention was not uncommon in Spain during the 19th and early 20th centuries. The most notable case in recent times was Franco's rebellion in 1936 against the democratic republican government, which touched off the three-year Spanish Civil War. He then ruled Spain, often ruthlessly, between 1939 and his death in 1975.
In 1981, three years after the return to democracy, paramilitary Civil Guards attempted a coup, which was quashed after King Juan Carlos ordered troops back to their barracks. Historians say there were other coup attempts after Franco's death that never became public.
Spain's military, like the country itself, has come a long way since then. Today it is a member of NATO, shares bases with U.S. troops and has some 3,000 soldiers on UN peace missions abroad.
While there seems no likelihood of an actual insurrection, the tone and language of the officers comments are a reminder that the army's role is still a highly charged subject.
“Spain's military establishment still hasn't undergone the democratic recycling that is imperative,” said Josu Erkoreka, spokesman for the Basque National Party in parliament.
Mr. Preston said that “the military academy under Franco was trained to believe that their principal function was to defend Spain from internal, rather than external enemies.”
Mr. Preston said reform of the military did not get under way until after the 1981 coup, so there are still many holdovers among older officers, such as the 60-year-old Gen. Mena.
“It's possible 20 per cent or even more of senior officers think like Gen. Mena but are probably too smart to say anything in public,” he said.
He got no argument from Mr. Cuadrado, the government defence spokesman.
“Army officers can think whatever way they want, just like judges, doctors or farmers,” he said. “What matters is that they don't let it interfere with their professional duties.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060127.wspain0127/BNStory/International/
