National
The pregnant Minister inspects her troops
By h.b.
Apr 14, 2008 - 4:05 PM

Spain’s new, and heavily pregnant, Minister for Defence, Carme Chacón, has today carried out her first inspection of the troops who were on parade to celebrate her appointment as the first woman ever to be head of the Ministry of Defence. It was the first time that a woman had inspected the troops in Spain.

She told the troops outside the Ministry buildings that never before had the Spanish armed forces been so supported by society, and that as well as defending the sovereignty and independence of Spain, it was the Spanish military who also defended peace and international law in different places in the world.

The Catalan Minister thanked her predecessor in the Ministry, José Antonio Alonso, and said she would modernise the army and fight to promote the greater incorporation of women in the military.
‘The fact that a woman is directing this Ministry is proof of the integration and the identification between the Armed forces and Society’, she said. ‘I feel proud and moved by this love for Spain which I have had since a child’.

She ended the event with a ‘¡Viva España! ¡Viva el Rey!’ which brought warm applause. It will be interesting to see how this woman of a pacifist background and seven months pregnant who manage the defence portfolio, traditionally the province of men.