A few hours ago, I spoke with a good Spanish friend in Dallas. We naturally discussed the political chaos in his country.
By the way, most Cubans of my generation have a connection to Spain because so many of our grandparents or ancestors came to the island from there. Many of us grew up with Spanish holiday traditions and food. As a boy, I remember pre-Castro Cuba full of Spanish merchants, such as my own grandfather and his 3 enterprising brothers.
My friend today also remembered the day that terrorism came to Spain or when 191 people were killed and 2,000 injured.
Some call it “3-11” or “11 de Marzo”. It happened when 10 bombs exploded in the busy morning rush hour.
Within hours, candidate Rodriguez-Zapatero of the left was running around blaming Prime Minister José María Aznar and the Spanish government’s support of the Iraq war. Zapatero, as we known him the West, took a shot at everybody but said little about the criminal terrorists who set off the bombs.
Three days later, the left was back in power with a plurality of the vote.
Today, there are no Spanish troops in Iraq. We can not say the same about terrorist cells in Spain!
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