POLITICS-SPAIN: Against all Bets, King Has Changed the Country

By Tito Drago Reprint | | Print |

Tito Drago

MADRID, Nov 22 2000 (IPS) - The 25-year reign of Juan Carlos of Bourbon has changed Spain, giving the lie to all predictions. The monarch is credited with making the coexistence of democracy and liberty possible following four decades of dictatorship under Francisco Franco.

The crown is the institution Spaniards respect most, according to a survey by sociologist Juan Díez Nicolás, published in the latest issue of ‘Cambio 16’ weekly magazine. Of those surveyed, 88 percent believe the succession will go smoothly when it comes time for Prince Felipe to replace his father.

But there are those who believe that a republic is still possible. Writer-journalist Margarita Riviere even says the country has a republican king, pointing to his style of handling public and private affairs.

When Juan Carlos acceded to the throne, following the death of dictator Franco on Nov 20, 1975, leftist political parties were deeply sceptical about his ability – and his desire – to lead Spain towards democracy.

The strongest leftist group at the time was the Community Party, led by Santiago Carrillo in exile. Another force, though less prominent, was the Spanish Socialist Workers Party (PSOE). Both demanded a republic as a form of government, and held Marxism as their political ideology.

The socialists publicly renounced Marxism in 1980, two years after winning the elections that put the party’s secretary- general, Felipe González, in the presidency.

Just days after the king was crowned, Carrillo defined him as “Juan Carlos the Brief.” Now, 25 years later, and distanced from the Communist Party, the veteran politician admits that he never imagined the king would accomplish so much.

Like many, he believed Juan Carlos, who Franco named as his heir, would maintain the dictatorship.

Meanwhile, in the PSOE, the then-powerful second in command, Alfonso Guerra, warned, “they are not going to come and ‘Bourbonise’ us,” meaning the party would not allow itself to be governed by Juan Carlos I.

After the coronation, González wrote in an article published by ‘Cambio 16’ that “the first notable event of the new situation has been patently disgraceful,” and painted a scenario of confrontation between two classes: the workers and the owners. The PSOE no longer uses such terminology.

Neither the left nor the right expected the changes that took place. In the initial phases, the king did not reveal in which direction he was guiding the ship known as Spain. In one light- hearted moment he noted, “at times it is difficult to play dumb.”

In July 1969, when Franco named Juan Carlos his successor, the future king had to swear allegiance to the Laws of the Movement, a sort of ‘Franquista’ constitution. At the time, he was under the advisement of jurist Torcuato Fernández-Miranda, who had served as his tutor.

Fernández-Miranda pointed out that the laws he would swear by included within them mechanisms for their own modification – mechanisms that were utilised later.

Thus reported Miguel Herrero y Rodríguez de Miñon, a young anti- Franco Christian Democrat who later became one of the seven who drafted the Constitution, a document still in effect today.

After his designation as successor, the future king began making contact with Franco’s opposition, indirectly at first, though increasingly direct by the time of his coronation. His most trusted confidants met with anti-Franco leaders, including with the Communist Party’s Carrillo.

To size up the communist leader, Juan Carlos sent José Mario Armero, a reputed liberal with close ties to the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei.

The transition began to gather speed on July 16, 1976, when the king named the young and mostly unknown Adolfo Suárez as president of the government.

Within a few months, Suárez dismantled the legal framework inherited from Franco, opening the way for democratisation. The process reached a high point with the approval of the Constitution, first agreed by the Congress of Deputies, and later ratified in a referendum on Dec 6, 1978.

In that era – 1975 and 1976 – most of the population supported a fully democratic alternative, though polls indicated that 61 percent of those surveyed preferred an incremental process, according to socialist sociologist José María Maravall.

Then came two key moments. The first came in March 1976, when Suárez legalised the Communist Party and halted the military commanders who opposed the move.

The second, Feb 23, 1981, was an attempted coup d’etat, as the armed forces, under the command of Lt. Col. Antonio Tejero, occupied Parliament.

That day underscored the power held by Juan Carlos I. While Tejero held all members of the government and parliament hostage, the king imposed his authority over the rest of the armed forces and obtained the surrender of the aggressors.

Today, only a small minority questions the legitimacy of the king, and most Spaniards accept the nation’s monarchy. There are those who propose a republic for some future moment, such as Gaspar Llamazares, secretary-general of the United Left, a coalition based in the Communist Party.

Save for ‘Ezquerra Republicana,’ a regional party with just one legislative deputy, no other parliamentary political group is calling for the creation of a republic in the short term.