The Minister of Social Rights and leader of Podemos, Ione Belarra, urged King Felipe VI on Monday to apologize for not getting up at the passing of Bolívar’s sword during the inauguration of Gustavo Petro as president of Colombia last Sunday .
“The inauguration of Gustavo Petro and Francia Márquez inaugurates the first Colombian government at the service of its people. Our role was to show all respect and support for the democratic process that has been followed. What happened is inexplicable and deserves an apology,” the minister demanded. in a message posted on the social network Twitter.
In a video that circulates on social networks, it can be seen how the King remains seated and does not applaud, unlike other authorities, when a group of soldiers carries Bolívar’s back, whose presence at the inauguration had been claimed by himself. Petro.
Other leaders of Podemos have also criticized Felipe VI’s gesture. The spokesman for United We Can in Congress, Pablo Echenique, has criticized the “lack of respect” that, in his opinion, the monarch has practiced by being “the only one who remains seated before the sword of Bolívar, who represents independence and sovereignty of so many Latin American peoples who are no longer vassals”. “What a lack of respect. Then why do the far-rightists of Vox like this king so much?” he has written on social networks.
Likewise, the former leader of Podemos and former Vice President of the Government, Pablo Iglesias, has indicated on Twitter that Felipe VI “did not represent the House of Bourbon today; he represented Spain.” “That makes the lack of respect for a symbol of freedom in Latin America even more serious. Hopefully Spain will soon be represented by a president of the Republic voted for by the citizens,” he said.
For Juan Carlos Monedero, former leader of the purple party, it is “sad” that the King remains seated “when all the decent people of Colombia vibrate on their feet” at the passing of the sword. “The brave generals, even when they are defeated, pay homage to those who have defeated them in a fair fight,” Monedero censures, asking for “respect.”
For his part, the deputy of United We Can Enrique Santiago, has written on the social network that “the presidential inauguration in Colombia is on August 7 by constitutional norm. The defeat of the Spanish army in Boyacá, the independence, is commemorated. representative of Spain, Felipe VI, should know what he was going for. His obligation was to avoid a diplomatic rudeness”.
Similarly, the deputy spokesman for United We Can in Congress and deputy for Galicia in Common, Antón Gómez-Reino, has denounced in a message on his Twitter profile the “Bourbon shame” of this act. “The shame that a man who is neither democratically elected nor knows how to respect the democracy of other countries makes us suffer,” he added.
Rufián: “I had read guillotine”
More forceful has been the ERC deputy in Congress Jordi Salvador: “He is an unpresentable worthy heir to many unpresentable. A man who has renounced being a person for being a worthy successor of a coup monarchy, corrupt and pro-fascist”, attacks the ERC parliamentarian, who calls the episode “unfortunate”.
For his part, the ERC spokesman in Congress, Gabriel Rufián, has also spoken about Felipe VI’s gesture of not standing up to Bolivar’s sword. “He had read guillotine”, the pro-independence politician has put in a brief message on his Twitter profile.
“What a piece of paper! They send this man to represent his State and he ends up ridiculing him before the international community. What is a king for?”, Questioned, for his part, the EH Bildu deputy Jon Inarritu.
Petro’s Wish
The presence of Bolívar’s sword at the swearing-in as president was Gustavo Petro’s first order after taking office as president. The sword is a historical piece that has great symbolic value for the Colombian president, since it was the one stolen by the M-19 guerrilla, to which Petro himself belonged, as the first act of insurgency. When the group reached a peace agreement with the government of Virgilio Barco, the sword was returned and transferred to the Quinta de Bolívar.
President Iván Duque showed it to Petro when they met after his victory in the presidential elections and at that moment Petro stated his intention that the sword be used as a symbolic element during the acts of possession.
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