Spain, is it dead?
Coinciding with the beginning of summer and after almost 100 days of horrible confinement and hard quarantine (98 in fact) derived from the harshest and longest state of alarm in recent European history, the government that imposed it on us has decided that we should move on seamlessly to what in a corny and plagiarized way (by the Chinese) has come to be called the "new normal". Normality, which in reality consists of letting go of the dead in the communities and staying still to watch them manoeuvre.
A hundred days repressed in our homes, which have been precise not by chance, but because the government did not know or want to see a serious pandemic coming from afar and getting close, minimized it for various and spurious reasons (some so stupid and petty, that it even cost them the serious infection of several members of the cabinet), despised all the warnings and real examples far and near, went too far and did not care to analyze the characteristics of the infection or to accumulate the precise or essential protection and healing material.
He trusted in the "strength of a health system" which he left broken in the face of an unprecedented enemy, since he did not provide the corresponding material to fight it adequately, did not warn him of the type of evil that was lurking, what means of penetration and contagion he used and how it multiplied. As a result of that, came the last-minute rush; the failed, bad, false and exorbitantly priced purchases; being among the countries with the highest number of deaths in percentages; especially among the elderly and also among the infected health workers if we compare our results with those of the whole world.
An unbearable campaign of pompous propaganda by the president began -no less than 20 interventions in the best Cuban or Bolivian style-, three or four press conferences a day by various ministers or high officials. A campaign to discredit certain autonomous communities commanded by the opposition party; the terrible fight without quarter over the FCSE, mainly over the Guardia Civil which has led to one of the most serious scandals involving the Minister of the Interior, once a judge with good prestige in his fight against ETA and today discredited, questioned, nervous and cornered while he falsely and mercilessly beheaded a century-old and well-behaved Corps; as well as for his unclear dealings with Batasuna and the separatists, without problems and even with great illusion.
The government has taken advantage of the "special situation" of certain impunity to legislate by Royal Decree even on things that have nothing to do with the pandemic or the cure for the disease. It has filled the offices with positions, many of them created ad hoc, occupied by friends and relatives, appointed by hand without fulfilling the minimum requirements for doing so and, at the same time, it has inflated itself with criticizing, defaming and spitting against all the parties at the slightest vestige of not drinking the water or dancing to their tune.
It has abandoned the elderly to their fate by leaving them in homes which, by nature and legislation, have no means or capacity to fight this accursed disease. Despite having created a "Single Command" since 19 March when Iglesias declared himself responsible for all the management, in this matter, he did not use it as such and has done nothing special except send them some money - late and insufficient - and in some cases, involve the military to do some cleaning and disinfection. As a result of that almost 20,000 old people have died; many of them in full loneliness and without the company of their loved ones and feeling that everything they built and worked hard for, failed them at the time of their final moment.
They come playing with the number of deaths that go up and down and freeze at the political discretion of some heartless people who do not want to be among the first in what they are; one of the worst examples because of their bad head, lack of foresight, shortage of material and bad management. We are the laughing stock of the world on this issue and we continue to try to hide more than 15,000 dead people who still do not know where to fit them in; although, paradoxically, if we know with meridian clarity the probable number of "lives saved" thanks to reclusion.
Finally, on this subject, it is important to emphasize that we are going to hold a "forced" state funeral for them, which will take another month, without knowing who they were, that they died or having clarified how many they are.
For the government, it was very important to remain confined, with the excuse of stopping the bleeding of the dead; although in reality, this hard situation served them to act on their own, control the protests and calm the anger of the citizens by giving them rope to their desires to protest, time to forget after the lure that it was not yet time to seek responsibility or criticize the government, leaving them alone with the promise that someday it will be, and settling many with some gift, royalty or subsidy with which their lives can be sweetened.
Meanwhile, tourism was attacked as being nineteenth-century and of little added value, or the car company announced its death, without taking into account that, in reality, many millions of jobs in Spain and a large portion of our GDP depend on these activities.
But they were so long in that disastrous impasse that the economy has started to crack up everywhere because it can no longer stand the companies and businesses that are closed, only teleworking, paying the expensive ERTEs or other subsidies, if they really pay you and with a little capacity in each bar.
That is why, in a hurry and leading the umpteenth lurch given in such a short time, have had to collect candles, create subsidies not enough and very late for those sectors most damaged, open the closed borders quickly and with it, we have gone from being at home locked, without close horizons or just walk to, in a few days, move throughout Spain, climb the mountains and be able to swim in the pools and the sea.
As far as borders are concerned, and although we already know that this virus is mainly imported from outside and its main entry points are the large international airports in Spain, especially Barajas in Madrid and El Prat in Barcelona; As many reinforcements were needed to cover security needs and these were closed, recently, their staffs almost completely had to be moved and now, we have a minimum staff to apply the scarce and almost derisory security measures that with so much hype, Avalos and Illa, sold us two days ago as the best in Europe. Yet another lie and failure, which we shall see what it will lead to.
Well, after this long but necessary preamble to understand the final situation, anyone would say that the general anger among the population, after so much deception, bad propaganda, worse management and the large number of casualties without our love and protection, should be great and many, more than half of the Spanish people - if we discount the undaunted followers, the impoverished and those lacking in capacity for good judgment and general understanding - should be prepared for nothing more than yesterday, At that time, a sunny Sunday and without much work in the bag, go out to celebrate the end of the State of Alarm and with our greatest anger and strength, without forgetting the mask and keeping the recommended safety distance, We should get together in a civilized way to protest the bad performance of this harmful government during the whole pandemic, its management and to prevent it from taking action because, as far as we are concerned, it will be even worse to manage and get out of the economic crisis that, with much strength and more than we are warned, is coming behind us.
Well, no, it turns out, no one in Spain protested. Sorry if they understood it that way, the lovers of the bull and bullfighting world, who joined forces in a powerful demonstration in defence of the spectacle and the profession. The political parties, meanwhile, are doing their own thing, starting some election campaigns in Galicia and the Basque Country where, no longer necessary because almost all the fish, has been sold for months.
Someone has already taken care of the angry doctors and nurses, the workers who are already there or who will soon be irremissibly unemployed (approximately one million), the forgotten self-employed, the farmers, the transporters and the elderly in defence of their pensions, among many other groups, did not go out yesterday to burn the wheels or to protest behind a banner in the streets of Madrid; it is not that this was a starting point for the protest or that it gave the image of the general unrest against the government and its policies in general.
The beaches of Barcelona, where Nissan is closing, and many more were so crowded that up to two had to be closed to the public. The country's attention was focused on whether Real Madrid was beating Real Sociedad and robbing Barcelona of the lead in La Liga or whether the refs were continuing their campaign of "aligning with Madrid" to annoy the Catalans for their evil and putting Pique back on the stand, as they do every time they lose. Bread and circus, a Roman invention to appease the bad moods of the population, which almost never fails.
Catalonia, that beautiful land whose leaders, only a few days ago, depreciated, spat on and vilified all Spaniards without modesty or pity, now turns out to be our home and the place where, without stellate or yellow ribbons, all of us as good sons and brothers must go this summer to spend our dogs and thus, their economy, to rescue.
The courts continue to show "apparent weakness", harassed by the Public Prosecutor's Office and the State Attorney's Office, who have changed their roles and now seem to be dedicated to discredit their masters and try to avoid trials, to leave the cases about "some politicians" blank or their cases closed before they begin. In this raid of robes, not even a very brave judge who ordered a special summary secret has been able to defend her clear orders given to the judicial police and has not prevented the government from interfering clumsily in the case, like an elephant in a china shop, without any kind of shame or pity.
The statues of our illustrious ancestors are viciously knocked down in the former "Indian lands" by the blacks and some whites who, moved by not at all strange and even known forces, are looking for any reason, even if it is false, to create a hackneyed claim that turns the whole international order and our image upside down in world history. Although, after hearing the Foreign Minister's statements on the subject in an interview this very morning, I do not understand why they do not even burn our consulates and embassies overseas.
The EU funds for recovery are not only not arriving; their actual or final amount, mode of delivery and whether there will be any formal surcharge or imposition to make them effective are not yet decided; by what deadlines they will arrive and how much of the total will have to be returned, as well as all the small print that usually accompanies them.
In the meantime, the government pulls out a checkbook and each day presents one more subsidy, even if some are repeated or complement others that were already in the labor market or in some business sector. But, we must keep in mind that these checks are paid by issuing public debt. This debt, together with the excessive deficit, is reaching a level of insane concern. All of this someone - our children and grandchildren and we will see if any other generation - will have to pay.
Every day we find a reason to make Trump even angrier, and we are not aware of the problems that this will bring in the short and medium term. We are losing places among those at the top of the digital and innovation ladder for communication and pandemic control. We are left out of the group of European countries that have joined together to purchase such an essential vaccine as that needed to combat COVID-19 and, in general, we are losing more and more prestige and level in research and competitiveness.
The government's intense propaganda campaign directed and coordinated by its mercenary, Ivan Redondo, with its related media, either paid or subsidized, has had a great effect. It is enough to see the results of the "serious polls" of these last two weekends that give the PSOE and Podemos more or less the same support and not a single wear and tear in spite of how badly they have done their job and after a fatal management of purchases and tests.
In spite of so much suffering and dismay, with at least one year lost for the economy and the world of work, everything that will result from it like unemployment, the debt that will come and the enormous shame that we are going through on an international level; as far as I can see, they are no more than small things of no importance to the sleeping Spaniards; and it is not enough for anyone to move a hair and go out into the streets to protest.
As I said, Spain is dead. If that were true... WAKE UP, FERRO!