| Spain mourns the dead Spain said goodbye yesterday to the victims of the explosions that took place on March 11 in commuter trains in Madrid. 190 people died. Another 13 plastic bags contain remains that cannot be identified; the exact number of victims has not yet been established. Most of the victims are residents of the poor suburbs of Madrid, students, and immigrants.
The funeral ceremony took place on Wednesday afternoon at the Cathedral of Saint Almudena in Madrid, next to the royal palace. For the first time since the death of Generalissimo Franco in 1975, a state mourning ceremony was dedicated to non-royal people who died. The Spanish King Juan Carlos and Queen Sofia, their children, members of foreign royal families, heads of heads and governments of 15 states, guests from 50 countries of the world, a total of one and a half thousand people, gathered yesterday in the cathedral to pay their last respects to them. On instructions from President Vladimir Putin, Russia was represented at the ceremony by Chairman of the Federation Council Sergei Mironov.
Initially, the funeral farewell to the dead did not imply foreign participation. But the leaders of many countries expressed their readiness to be with Spain in its hour of sorrow.
The new chairman of the Spanish government, Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, met with them yesterday. The 10-minute conversation alone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair was fundamental. Rodriguez Zapatero reiterated that Spain will withdraw its troops from Iraq by July 1 if control of the situation in the country is not transferred to the UN. US Secretary of State Colin Powell tried to convince the new Spanish leader yesterday. “Now is not the time to leave,” he says. But Zapatero is unlikely to be convinced by this opinion. Yesterday he spoke with French President Jacques Chirac and German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, who have always strongly opposed the war in Iraq.
“We do not want to leave the relatives of the victims alone with pain and we cry with them,” said Cardinal Antonio Rouco Varela, Archbishop of Madrid, who led the mourning service. The cloudy sky of Madrid was ready to cry along with Spain. When a giant television screen installed in Puerta del Sol, the central square of Madrid, showed Queen Sofia crying, those gathered could not hold back their tears. Immediately after the funeral mass, Don Juan Carlos and Dona Sofia approached the 600 relatives of the victims who were present at the ceremony and personally expressed their condolences to each one.
The Spanish government has allocated 140 million euros to help victims of terrorist attacks and their families. In addition, the Spanish government will take care of the affected foreigners. 47 foreigners were killed and several hundred foreigners were injured on the trains, many of them were in the country illegally. Now they and their immediate relatives can legalize their stay in Spain and obtain the coveted Spanish citizenship - 754 people have already applied with such a request. Killed illegal foreigners will be granted Spanish citizenship posthumously. At the cost of their own lives, they ensured a prosperous future for their families. Andrey ZLOBIN |
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