The President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has once again been welcomed at the military parade on the occasion of the National Holiday with thunderous boos. Like every year since he arrived in Moncloa - and with the exception of the reduced event held in 2020 due to the pandemic - the socialist leader has had to endure how the public gathered around Madrid's Plaza de Neptuno has shouted the classic "Sánchez traitor" at him. or "Government resign", which have been joined this time by the cries of "Let Txapote vote for you". All this in the presence of the Kings and Princess Leonor, who presided over the military parade through which more than 4,000 soldiers, 86 aircraft, and 142 vehicles have paraded.
The days prior to October 12, they were already predicting that the tension that permeates Spanish politics would be transferred to the events for the National Holiday. From the ranks of the Popular Party they had encouraged the street to express their disagreement with "the plans" of the candidate for the investiture in reference to the possibility of approving an amnesty as demanded by the independence movement. And so it has been.
The boos, however, have arrived this year with fewer decibels to the authorities' tribune after the change of route forced by the various works started in the vicinity of the Santiago Bernabeu has moved away the areas enabled for the general public - in the race from San Jerónimo or, even in Cibeles, - from the presidential box - Plaza de Neptuno - for a final tour starting in Atocha and ending in Colón.
The distance has sparked numerous criticisms among the thousands of people who, dressed in Spanish flags, caps and T-shirts, hoped to convey their discontent to the President of the Government about the policies developed by the Executive. Seeing that the police operation, however, has presented them with the dilemma of choosing between a place with better views, but further away, or one closer to Sánchez, but with reduced visibility, the latter have had to use their smartphones. to follow the Spanish Television broadcast and thus try to synchronize their shouts on the air with the arrival of the President of the Government, which, in no case, could they sense with the naked eye.
"It's impossible to go there bro," lamented a group of young people who had the slogans and posters ready to send to Sánchez. All this in the midst of many groups in which tempers became heated at times when listing the grievances that the Spanish right attributes to Sánchez.
The communion, however, threatened to derail when the role of the Crown was addressed, where the closed support for King Felipe VI of some clashed with criticism for "giving Sánchez the opportunity to form a Government." "Well, let's leave it there," they concluded before the dispute made them lose focus on the enemy of the day: Sánchez.
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, who on other October 12 events has also received her share of boos, warned yesterday that those who whistle in the National Holiday parade "disrespect" the king, the Armed Forces and "the immense majority of citizens." A thesis that is not at all shared by the general coordinator of the Popular Party, Elías Bendodo, who defends that citizens have every right to express themselves in the streets against Sánchez.
Sánchez, for his part, has not been alone and almost the entire acting government – including Vice President Yolanda Díaz, the Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, and the heads of Consumption, Alberto Garzón, and Universities, Joan Subirats – have accompanied to the President of the Executive, still pending a date to reissue the investiture.
In the absence of new faces, still, in the central government, several regional presidents have been inaugurated after the executive dance last summer that led to the elections. The 11 regional presidents of the Popular Party, the three of the PSOE and the Canary Coalition, attended the meeting, while the Lehendakari, Iñigo Urkullu, and the president of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, have not attended as usual.
All of them have witnessed how for the first time in history a female parachutist, María del Carmen Gómez, has jumped with the Spanish flag. Corporal Gómez launched from a C-212 Aviocar preceded by First Corporal Miguel Antonio Gómez Rivas, whose responsibility was to be the first to land to act as a guide for his team.
Then came the turn of the raising of the national flag and the tribute to those who gave their lives for Spain, which was followed by the passage of the Eagle Patrol, the air and land parades of Units of the Armies, the Navy, the Guard Civil, the Military Emergency Unit (UME), the Royal Guard, the State Security Forces and Bodies and various Security, Civil Protection and Emergency organizations.
Like every year, members of the Legion have also paraded, accompanied by the mascot that annually attracts everyone's attention. This Thursday, it was a goat: Pacoli.
