Spain Papers Review - Friday July 18 2008
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By h.b. - Jul 18, 2008 - 9:53 AM
The Supreme Court’s considerations of the Madrid Train Bombing trial held in the National Court dominates the papers with each one of them highlighting their own agenda.

For El Mundo the Supreme Court has placed doubt on key aspects of the original case. The paper notes that it confirms the release of the three alleged ‘intellectual authors’ of the massacre and says the Leganés cell was ‘an independent terrorist group’.
El Mundo notes that the request from the prosecutor to condemn ‘The Egyptian’ for belonging to an armed gang was rejected as the evidence was only ‘general’. The paper also notes that one man who was accused of placing the bombs has now also been released.
Compare that to the headline in El País which says that the Supreme Court has backed all the key data from the original sentence, and that the upper chamber has quashed the last remains of the conspiracy theory of ETA involvement.
ABC considers that the Supreme Court has ratified the man part of the original sentence, including the Islamic responsibility for the bombings.
Público leads with the verdict and says the conspiracy theory has been finally killed as the Islamic authorship of the attack is confirmed and that there was no trace of ETA.

El Mundo has a discrete photo, taken from the rear, of the King taking a walk with Adolfo Suárez. The ex Spanish Prime Minister is suffering from a degenerative mental illness and established a close friendship with Juan Carlos during the transition to democracy.
El País has the same shot and a quote from Suárez family – ‘He did not recognise the King, but he noted his affection’.
ABC has the photo with the caption ‘The transition (to democracy) was not a dream’.

El Mundo looks at the financing of the Spanish regions, and notes that the Minister for the Economy, Pedro Solbes, is offering all the regions the same taxes which are granted in the Catalan Statutes.
Catalan paper La Vanguardia complains that Solbes’ plan does not meet the Catalan Statute and ‘irritates Cataluña’.

El País notes that ACS has shaken up the stock market with the announcement that they are to sell their shares in Union Fenosa. The paper also notes that the International Monetary Fund has said that Spain will be hit harder than other countries by the crisis.
ABC leads with the crisis and says that the large companies from across the economy are now all affected. The paper notes that two more real estate firms, Colonial and Reyal Urbis, have warned the CNMV stock market regulatory body that they have still not managed to refinance their debt.

El Mundo notes the admission by the Interior Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba who has told the Association of Terrorism Victims AVT that he can do nothing to stop the ETA terrorist De Juana Chaos from becoming a neighbour to some ETA victims’ families on his release at the start of next month.

In international news,
El País notes that the President of Argentina, Cristina Fernández, has suffered her largest political defeat since coming to power eight months ago. After 18 hours of debate the Senate overturned a law which was to have increased taxes from 35% to 45% on agricultural exports. The paper says it has opened a political crisis in the country.

ABC says that Hugo Chávez of Venezuela wants to visit King Juan Carlos this summer in the Marivent Palace on Mallorca to ‘seal the peace’ between the two. The paper says that Madrid and Caracas are trying to set a date for next week.

El Mundo notes the positive EPO drug test for another rider in the Tour de France, the third. Ricardo Riccò is Italian and denies the charge.

And finally,
Staying with drugs, El País gives us more details of the theft of 100 kilos of cocaine which has gone missing from the main police station in Sevilla. The paper reveals that whoever took the drug, valued at 10 million €, replaced it with talcum powder.

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