The King did rise to the passage of Bolívar's sword when the relic left the stage where Gustavo Petro had been sworn in as the new president of Colombia, although he remained seated when he made his entrance. The King's gesture, based on a single image of the act, generated criticism on Colombian social network accounts and provoked an angry reaction from the leaders of Podemos who came to ask the Government to apologize to Colombia for what they described as a lack of respect of the King.
Without anyone verifying what had really happened, visualizing the complete scene, since yesterday the controversy, fueled by the leaders of Podemos, has splashed the King, and has even made the Government intervene, which, although taking iron away from the gesture, has also entered to the rag
Félix Bolaño has described as inconsequential and anecdotal the King's decision to remain seated while Simón Bolívar's sword passed, upon his arrival before the stands of guests at the inauguration of the new president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro. The sword, whose entry on the scene was not recorded in the ceremonial, is not a symbol of the state, unlike the flag, the anthem or the shield, so it cannot be described as disrespectful not to stand up in its wake, although the Rey did when the relic left the stage.
Felipe VI, who returned to Palma this Monday after his lightning trip to Bogotá, remained seated, like other guests at the ceremony that took place on Sunday in Bogotá, while the sword, guarded by the Presidential Guard, accessed the platform where Petro had just sworn. The King limited himself to following the initial ceremony in which the entrance of the sword was not recorded, but he imitated the attitude of other guests when the relic was removed. The photo of the sitting King was used by leaders of Podemos such as the Minister of Social Rights, Ione Belarra, the spokesman in Congress, Pablo Echenique, and the former Vice President of the Government Pablo Iglesias, to disfigure the King's position and launch their darts against the Crown. Podemos asked the Foreign Ministry, whose head José Manuel Albares accompanied the King, to clarify the monarch's gesture.
Both Bolaños, who has referred to the issue after visiting the works of the AVE in Almería, and Iceta, have agreed that the issue is a "summer controversy for some to mark a political position." They thus responded to the commotion organized by the Minister of Social Affairs, Ione Belarra, and other members of Podemos who, echoing the appearance on Colombian social networks of protests against the King's attitude and, without knowing the details of the ceremonial act of relief, they considered an offense to the Colombians that the King had not risen, although he had done so, asking the Royal House to apologize and the Government to give explanations. In addition to Bolaños, the Minister of Culture, Miquel Iceta, has expressed himself in the same sense, arguing that these are protocol and ceremonial matters, which do not affect the good relations between the two countries. Iceta has advised "to keep things in reasonable terms, without making small gestures out of control that do not have that transcendence". "I don't know, if a sword passes me, I don't know if I get up or not", he assured after considering "absolutely crazy and disproportionate" to propose that Colombia be apologized for the King's gesture.
Felipe VI, first as Prince of Asturias and since 2014 as King, has traveled to Latin America on more than one hundred occasions, most with the aim of attending the different presidential relays, led, on some occasions, by left-wing or populist politicians. . The Head of State, who has not attended the last relays in Venezuela and Nicaragua, always attends with the endorsement and mandate of the Government. Except for occasional protests from some radical sectors, the King has always been received by the outgoing and incoming leaders with respect and institutional cordiality. Just yesterday, the new Colombian president positively valued the presence of the King, with whom he had a meeting, in Bogotá and no Colombian media highlighted that the King had remained seated at the beginning of the ceremony, surely because they verified "in situ" that he had got up.
The sword of the liberator Simón Bolívar was not in the presidential relay because it was a symbol of the struggle for independence against colonial Spain, but because in 1974 it was stolen by the M19 guerrillas and later returned to the State, in 1991, after the signing of the first peace agreement under Colombian President César Gaviria. Petro has already placed next to the stage where he was sworn in the sculpture of the dove of peace created by the Colombian artist Fernando Botero for the signing of the peace agreements between the Colombian state, chaired by Juan Manuel Santos and the FARC, in 2016. In the solemn act of signing the agreements, which was held on September 27, 2016 in Cartagena de Indias, King Juan Carlos attended, on behalf of the Government and Felipe VI.
Petro wanted, in his first decision as president, to mark distances with his predecessor and, at the same time, claim the relic as a symbol of the unity of Colombians and, incidentally, remember the brotherhood among the Ibero-American peoples. In his speech at his inauguration, Gustavo Petro reviewed those concepts but, unlike other Ibero-American leaders, he did not mention Spain or the colonial past. In fact, the different territories that until the beginning of the 19th century belonged to the Crown of Spain were not considered colonies but rather Spanish provinces, as evidenced by the fact that transatlantic deputies were present in the Cortes of Cádiz and it was precisely the 1812 Constitution that that inspired the first laws of the new countries once the civil wars that confronted liberators and royalists ended.
The M19, to which Petro belonged in his youth, stole the sword in a coup that gave visibility to the guerrilla struggles that were being waged in those years in Central America and other countries in the area and kept it in their possession until, In 1991, coinciding with the lead years of drug trafficking, the first peace agreement was signed, although the guerrillas were not dissolved until 2016. For the Colombian left, the relic is not a symbol of the 19th century struggle of the liberators. against the royalists, but the symbol of the struggles of the Latin American left against the oligarchy.
