Dawn

Dawn

Sunday, September 29, 2013

Holy corpses; Funny statue; Gib yet again; Punishing politicos; Defending politicos; and Bloody generals.

The mummified corpse of Santa Minia wasn't the only thing of interest in Brión on Friday night. In the centre of a copse of oak trees there, we happened upon this statue of Adam and Eve. Quite what is going on is anyone's guess as there's no explanatory plaque. To me, Eve seems to be kissing Adam's left knee. Quite why, I have no idea.

If you haven't yet seen it, here's a video of a Spanish secondary school's enactment of a Spanish invasion of Gibraltar and the slaughter of its residents. I was disgusted. It's so bloody amateurish. I don't believe in violence but I feel the drama teacher should be shot.

Talking of Gib . . . It seem's that the canny Spanish police ran down the border checks just before the EU inspectors arrived and then immediately reinstituted them as soon as they'd gone. The Gib government said this was pointless as they had plenty of video evidence of what had been going on. Asked for their opinions this morning, several drivers waiting to cross the border were considerably less sanguine.

All of which reminds me . . . At the UN this week Spain's Motormouth Margallo was pictured shaking hands with Britain's Motormouth Blair. Mo comment necessary.

Spain is currently revising is Criminal Code. One change is to be more severe penalties for corrupt politicians. The cynical Spanish response to this appears to be that it'll make no difference at all - no one can remember a politician who hasn't been pardoned after a short stay in the Soto del Real holiday camp north of Madrid. Maybe they all have something on each other.

Talking of corrupt politicians . . . One of ours here in Galicia is the ex-president of the Ourense province. The good news is that he's to be investigated by the current president. The bad news is that the latter is his son. Democratically elected, of course.

At a national level, it seems the Public Prosecutor(El Procurador Fiscal) has turned into the Public Defender. In a number of corruption investigations - including that of the King's daughter - he's demanded and then commanded that the investigating judges back off the prosecution of prominent people. It is, of course, a political appointment and, as I've said before, there seems to be little fear on the part of the Spanish government that the populace will revolt against its scandalous behaviour. They may complain; they may make a lot of noise; but they won't actually do anything. This supine behaviour, say some, reflects fear born of the fact that the Civil War remains very much in living memory. That said, there was a major demonstration against the King yesterday in Madrid.

Finally . . . You may not be familiar with the name Juan Yagüe. He was Francoist General who earned himself the nickname of The Butcher of Badajoz. Astonishingly, there's still a street in Madrid named after him. Even more depressing, there are still streets and squares around Spain - though not in Madrid apparently - named after the even more bloodthirsty General Queipo de Llano. What can one say?

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