Spanish Press Review
Spain Papers Review - Monday May 5 2008
By h.b. - May 5, 2008 - 9:41 AM
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There is on-going coverage in the papers following the death of Spanish ex Prime Minister, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo. El Mundo notes that 27 years on after the attempted coup the military will enter Congress today to escort his body out of the building and to play tribute to the man who was the first ex head of the democratic government in Spain.
El País leads with a photo of his coffin being carried in honour by the three armed forces and notes the tribute from King Juan Carlos – ‘A grand Spaniard, a man of State, a democrat’.
ABC leads with the same quote and shows a photo of the Monarch kissing Calvo-Sotelo’s widow, Pilar Ibáñez-Martín.
El Mundo leads with the headline that Rosa Díez, the single deputy from the Union Progress and Democracy party, has called on the Government to dissolve the 33 town halls in the Basque region which have a Mayor from the ANV party. She refers to an article in the local law which allows corporations which support terrorism to be dissolved, and the ANV party is now generally considered to be the new political wing of ETA.
Prominence for the confirmation of Real Madrid as this year’s Primera Liga Champions. El Mundo has a close up photo of Raul placing a Real Madrid scarf round the neck of the Cibeles fountain last night after the side’s dramatic come back to beat Osasuna 1-2 in the last seven minutes of the match.
El País describes Real Madrid as ‘heroic’.
ABC says that the match against Osasuna had an especially dramatic end, and shows a photo of Higuaín celebrating the winning goal.
For once Público puts sport on its front page as well as the back and notes they won the league with ten men coming back from behind with seven minutes to go.
In International Stories:
El Mundo notes that Santa Cruz has voted ‘yes’ for greater autonomy for the region, the richest in Bolivia. It’s a vote against the power of the country’s left wing President Evo Morales.
El País considers that the rich part of Bolivia has shown its distrust of Morales.
Many papers note that Microsoft has now withdrawn its offer to purchase Yahoo! with no agreement on price. El País says that Yahoo considers they are worth more than that offered.
El País also reveals that it was agents of the CNI, the Spanish secret service, who pay the ransom demanded by the pirates who kidnapped the Spanish tuna fishing boat, ‘Playa de Bakio’. The paper says that 700,000 € was paid.
La Vanguardia, from Barcelona, notes that Nicolas Sarkozy has los all his popularity in France in just a year.
Back in Spain:
Mariano Rajoy and his leadership is again questioned by El Mundo. The paper says he has an ever decreasing set of supporters in the party, and that nobody thinks he will be leading them into the 2012 General Election.
Rebellion in the Socialist ranks also according to El País today, which reports that there is unrest at the regional funding plans wanted by the party in Cataluña. It says the Socialist ‘barons’ are moving against the demands of José Montilla. The paper says that Finance Minister, Pedro Solbes is looking for a ‘constitutional and socialist’ solution.
El País says that the Ministry for Housing is to offer new tax breaks to try and lessen the effects of the crisis in construction.
And finally,
Many papers including El Mundo cover the demonstration at the Las Ventas bullring yesterday which saw protestors jumping into the ring – between the bullfights by the way. El Mundo notes it was the bullring’s own security which finally removed the protestors in the face of what the paper says was ‘police passivity’.
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