Marina Artusa
10/12/2020 13:00
Clarín.com
World
Updated 10/12/2020 2:12 PM
In a sunny Madrid and under the
state of alarm
with which the national government confined it due to the increase in coronavirus infections, Spain celebrated its
most atypical and uncomfortable
national holiday
in
recent years on
Monday
.
The pandemic reduced the deployment of the usual pomp that every October 12 honors what the Spaniards call
Hispanic Day
to a modest parade that reduced to just over
500 soldiers the more than 4,000
who do it every October 12 to commemorate the arrival of Christopher Columbus in America.
The ceremony, led by King Felipe VI, Queen Letizia, Princess Leonor and Infanta Sofía, this time brought together characters from the Spanish political scene who would have preferred
not to see each other
in the Plaza de la Armería of the Royal Palace
.
Not even with the regulatory chinstrap imposed by the covid era.
A small parade, on Hispanic Day.
Photo: AP
As happened to the head of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, and the president of the Community of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, who greeted each other with civilized coldness.
Díaz Ayuso accuses Sánchez of leading
the most authoritarian government
of democracy and asks him to lift the state of alarm that he imposed on Madrid capital and eight cities in his community tomorrow, Tuesday, without the approval of the regional president.
The national government decreed a state of alarm for Madrid on Friday after the Madrid Court of Justice annulled the
perimeter confinement
and other restrictions on mobility and social life of Madrid residents that the Executive had established for those districts of the community in which the positive cases of covid exceeded 500 per 100,000 inhabitants in the last two weeks.
Another novelty of this unprecedented Spanish national holiday was the presence of the second vice president of the Spanish government and leader of Podemos, Pablo Iglesias, and the ministers belonging to his party.
In previous years, Iglesias and his family, fervent supporters of a republic replacing the current parliamentary monarchy in Spain as soon as possible, avoided attending the kissing in the Royal Palace.
Fortunately, the pandemic erased with a stroke of the pen
any gesture of reverence
that implies physical contact, but Iglesias, critical of the figure of the king and when a judge has just asked the Supreme Court of Spain to investigate him for alleged crimes in the case of theft from the cell phone of a former advisor of hers, he had to
feign insanity
and greet Felipe VI.
Monarchy, in the corner
The monarchy does not live happy days: the exit through the service door of King Emeritus Juan Carlos, who in August preferred to
disappear
from the kingdom to the United Arab Emirates while justice investigates whether or not he committed financial illicit, and the attacks from the left to the left of the PSOE-Podemos coalition government wear down his figure and raise questions about his future.
A survey by the Independent Media Platform prepared by the 40dB opinion institute of more than 3,000 people indicates that, if a referendum on the monarchy is held today,
40.9 percent
of Spaniards would support the republic.
The kings and their daughters during the parade.
Photo: AP
The fate of the monarchy, however, was not put into play this Monday in the act of October 12, which was also attended by 12 of the 17 regional presidents.
Except for those from the Basque Country and Catalonia, who do not usually attend the ceremony that praises Hispanidad, others preferred not to travel to Madrid due to the pandemic.
According to law 18/1987 that established October 12 as the day of the National Holiday of Spain, the celebration, which this year
lasted only one hour
, aims to “commemorate the moments of collective history that are part of the historical heritage, common cultural and social, assumed as such by the vast majority of citizens.
The celebration coincides with the celebration of the Virgen del Pilar, patron saint of Aragon and Hispanidad.
From Mexico, its president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador, took advantage of the sensitive date in the Ibero-American calendar to demand, once again, that Spain apologize for having conquered America and for the way in which it was done.
"It is better for all of us, with humility, to offer our apologies to the native peoples and to try to start a new stage in our relations," said López Obrador.
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This 2020 edition was held without the Madrilenians knowing the updated figures on the evolution of the covid, which are not provided during the weekend.
As of Friday, Madrid had registered 261,762 people who fell ill with the virus since it set foot in Spain at the end of January.
Between Thursday and Friday, 2,256 new cases were diagnosed.
"Long live the king!", "Government resigns!", "Churches to prison!"
it could be heard behind the fences that surrounded the Royal Palace and among the people who gathered in the Plaza de Oriente and on Calle Bailén.
At that time, the far-right Vox party had called a demonstration against the state of alarm declared by the government in Madrid.
By car or motorcycle, with Spanish flags and
honking
as in the final of the soccer world championship, dozens of Spaniards protested against the restrictions that the Pedro Sánchez government put in Madrid.
The far-right Vox party called a demonstration against the state of alarm.
Photo: AP
"If the tyrant Sánchez declares an illegal state of alarm again, we will convene on October 12, in all cities and towns, a new caravan for freedom," Santiago Abascal, the leader of Vox, had announced on Friday on his social networks .
The protest, summoned in various cities of Spain, in Madrid surrounded the Plaza Colón and copied the Paseo de la Castellana.
As it is the day of the Spanish national holiday, museums and royal sites could be visited for free on Monday.
In the capital, however, the state of alarm intimidates both its people and many neighbors, instead of taking their children to the Royal Palace to see the Spanish flag that the Patrulla Aguila draws on the celestial sky of Madrid every October 12. , the acrobatic division of the Air Force, this year they preferred to
go up to the terrace of their buildings.
During the weekend, the monuments of the postcards that best define Madrid, such as the fountain in the Plaza de Cibeles, the Puerta de Alcalá or the Real Casa de Correos, in Puerta del Sol, were stained red and gold, the colors of the Spanish flag.
"The effort that unites us" was the motto of this Columbus Day.
Effective as a citizen harangue in the face of the advance of the pandemic but false in the hands of the political class that fails to combine criteria to govern the Western European country where more people were infected with coronavirus.
Madrid. Correspondent
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