Riding the Waves, 28. Equal Before the Law?

First of all, a correction. I said yesterday that it was St. Lucia's Day, but it wasn't. It was St. Eulalie's, and the noise bombs came from the neighboring parish, where she is the patron saint. St. Lucia is on the thirteenth, next Sunday.

The saga of ex-King Juan Carlos has become a comedy that makes Spain look more and more like a banana monarchy. He has paid what he owed on the opaque credit card, almost €700,000, before the tax office even sent him a notice that he was being investigated, or so we think. It seems there might have been a notice sent, or at least an investigation begun, last month. Which would mean that payment should not end the investigation until a judge decides it. There is also a whole lot of indignation. When a regular citizen has a problem with Hacienda, he normally is tracked down, and hounded, until he pays up every last cent. The ex-King has gotten away with financial murder.  

In chambers of the regional government of Madrid yesterday, to which region the king should have paid the taxes and fees, a deputy asked the regional president about the ex-King. She, Isabel Ayuso, replied in defense of the ex-King, saying "The law is the same for all, but we are not all equal before the law, because King Juan Carlos is not in the least like you." ("La ley es para todos la misma, pero no todos somos iguales ante la ley, porque el rey Juan Carlos no es ni muchísimo menos como usted.") Last I checked, the fourteenth article of the Spanish Constitution says, "Spaniards are equal before the law, without any discrimination due to birth, race, sex, religion, opinion, or any other personal or social condition or circumstance." (Los españoles son iguales ante la ley, sin que pueda prevalecer discriminación alguna por razón de nacimiento, raza, sexo, religión, opinión, o cualquier otra condición or circunstancia personal o social.) That would include the King, despite being free from being brought before a tribunal for actions during his reign (a deliberate inclusion in the Constitution). He is no longer a king, but a simple member of the Royal Family, and he can now be investigated for actions done while not on the throne. 

The truth is that the monarchy is a bridge back to Franco and his dictatorship. In fact, the monarchy should have disappeared at the end of the nineteenth century. The First Republic was declared in 1873, but at the end of 1874 the Borbons were restored to the throne, and the Constitution of 1876 cemented the monarchy until the Second Republic. That ushered in the short reign of Alfonso XII, and after his death, the regency of his wife, Maria Cristina, great grandmother of Juan Carlos. She was a bit of a thief, selling some of the crown jewels for her own benefit. Her son, Alfonso XIII, continued as a rather autocratic monarch, with the ability to overturn any law he disapproved of. After the Spanish-American War of 1898, the economy tanked, and there was civil unrest. Alfonso called out the army reservists to quell riots in the Tragic Week of 1909, which was not exactly a popular move. Civil unrest continued until 1923, fuelled by a war in northern Morocco, until a general, Miguel Primo de Rivera, staged a coup and ousted the government, becoming dictatator with the help and consent of King Alfonso XIII. When Primo de Rivera faced opposition from his own army in 1930, Alfonso forced him to resign, and appointed another general, Dámaso Berenguer.

Alfonso's intention was to return to a docile elected government, but no one was happy with this. More and more, calls for a new republic grew. Berenguer resigned, and an admiral was put in his place. This admiral, Juan Bautista Aznar, called for elections, in a bid to calm the country. The results came back with a very clear win for the parties calling for a republic. Alfonso realized that if he called on the army again, there would be major unrest, so he left with his ill-gotten millions.

But he never abdicated. He remained the King of Spain until his death. He encouraged Franco to overthrow the Republic, though he thought it would be over in days, and wouldn't involve a general war. In fact, from his hotel in Rome, he encouraged Mussolini to help Franco, to shorten the fray, and helped with some of the financing. His intention was to return to Spain as King, with Franco as another head of government, like Primo de Rivera had been. But it wasn't to be. Franco liked being head of state, even though he considered himself monarchic. So, he set about looking for a royal successor. He finally settled on young Juan Carlos, the grandson of Alfonso XIII. Juan Carlos' father, Juan, had disgraced himself before Franco with his declaration at Lausanne, asking Franco to leave the country, and restore democracy.

Franco took over the education of Juan Carlos, and groomed him into a future Alfonso XIII. Juan Carlos became King of Spain by the blessing of General Francisco Franco, not because the nation asked him to become head of state upon the death of the dictator. He has used the power given him by the Constitution, to take bribes and squirrel them away abroad, thanks to his supporters who guaranteed that the King should remain above the law while King.

His son, Felipe VI, is not above resorting to absolutist remarks, though he is conscious that the country has changed, and his every movement scrutinized. When Catalunya held the illegal referendum, rather than use his status as head of state to try to have the entire country understand that we are all Spaniards, and bring the country together, he castigated the Catalans for wanting to be different. He railed against those who were breaking the law of the land. Was he conscious at that moment of his father's financial deals? Most likely, yes. But, as a true Borbón, he understands that the law doesn't seem to apply to him. 

It's time for the Third Republic. 

Life continues.