Adolfo Suarez, 'founding father' of Spanish democracy, dies at 88
1 replies, posted
[t]http://imgkk.com/i/tmny.jpg[/t]
[url]http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/03/23/us-spain-suarez-idUSBREA2M0DA20140323[/url]
[quote]Former Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez, who died on Sunday, steered Spain through one of the most turbulent periods in its political history and built bridges between the "two Spains" after fascist dictator General Francisco Franco died in 1975.
Suarez, who was 81, was hospitalized on March 17 with a respiratory infection. He had suffered from Alzheimer's disease for many years. His death was reported by state television.
Many Spaniards remember Suarez's unruffled demeanor during one of the most tense moments in the country's modern history, an attempted coup on February 23 1981.
Six years earlier, after Franco's death, King Juan Carlos called on Suarez, a young Francoist minister, to try to unite the two factions who were still in a sense fighting the 1936-1939 civil war, and indeed were further apart than ever after nearly 40 years of fascism exiled thousands of left-wingers.
At the time, his Francoist colleagues called him a turncoat and the main opposition Socialists accused him of opportunism.
The immediate aim was to organize Spain's first democratic elections since the war, which Suarez ended up winning in 1977, serving as prime minister for four years in which the country was beset by myriad economic, political and security problems.
He drew criticism from all sides and eventually resigned.
But decades later, Suarez came to be recognized as one of the founding fathers of modern Spain. A 2007 poll showed that Spaniards regarded him as the most respected prime minister since Franco's death.
"Prime Minister's Suarez political career calls to mind the highest spirit of our democratic transition: recognition of dissenting voices, promotion of tolerance and the practice of dialogue. Thanks to that attitude he had the capacity to forge great agreements," Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, who served as prime minister from 2004 to 2011, told Reuters.[/quote]
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.