The Diplomat
His Majesty the King’s gesture of remaining seated in front of Simón Bolivar’s sword during the swearing-in ceremony of Gustavo Petro as the new president of Colombia on Sunday has provoked a new episode of confrontation within the PSOE-Unidas Podemos coalition government.
While Podemos has taken advantage of what has happened to lash out at the monarch and insists on demanding that the Minister of Foreign Affairs, José Manuel Albares, who was present at the ceremony, say whether he endorses the King’s act, ministers from the Socialist sector yesterday tried to play down the controversy.
Thus, the Minister of the Presidency, Félix Bolaños, described the gesture as “inconsequential” and “totally minor”, and asked Podemos to focus “on the essential”.
For his part, the Minister of Culture and Sport, Miquel Iceta, in statements to Radio Nacional, considered it “absurd and disproportionate” that Spain should have to apologise for this, as demanded by Unidas Podemos and the pro-independence supporters.
Iceta, who believes that this is a “trivial controversy”, compared the claim to that of those who demand that Spain apologise for the Discovery of America.
The Culture Minister explained that the incident occurred because the presence of the sword at the swearing-in was “unexpected” because Gustavo Petro “had asked for it to prepare the ceremony and the outgoing government had denied it to him”.
The display of Bolivar’s sword, which for years was in the possession of the M19 guerrillas to which the new Colombian president belonged, was apparently not included in the protocol prepared for the swearing-in ceremony.
In spite of everything, Podemos insisted yesterday on its attacks on the King, especially through its parliamentary spokesman, Pablo Echenique, who on Twitter pointed out that Felipe VI was the “only head of state who did not stand up and was seen on all the world’s televisions”.
In reality, the King was not the only one who remained seated, and in the same images it can be seen that other leaders, such as the President of Argentina, Alberto Fernández, neither stood up.
In another tweet, Echenique refers to article 64 of the Spanish Constitution, pointing out that the King “cannot take the personal decision to insult the Colombian people without first consulting the competent minister”.
And Unidas Podemos deputy Pedro Honrubia wrote on the same social network, after calling the King a “facha”: “What we miss is a good guillotine in the history of the Spanish state”.
In contrast, the main opposition groups came out in defence of the Monarch’s attitude.
Thus, the deputy spokesman of the PP in the Congress of Deputies, Jaime de Olano, said that the head of state “has strictly complied with protocol” and described the criticisms of Unidas Podemos as “inadmissible”.
Several Vox deputies also expressed their support, including Juan Luis Steegman, who said that Bolivar’s sword “would still be stained with the blood of Spaniards”.
Ciudadanos applauded Felipe VI’s gesture “for not bowing to indigenist whims that only seek to offend our country”. “It is enough to see the reaction of the enemies of Spain to know that Felipe VI is once again right in his defence of Spain”, the party said, reports Europa Press.
