When pain and sorrow turned to anger

The Spanish people's pain and sorrow in the wake of the Madrid terror bombings was already considerable.

What made such strong feelings tilt into full-blooded anger was the deceitful attitude of the Spanish government that kept on insisting that its prime suspect in Thursday's rail bombings was the armed Basque separatist group ETA even when the extent of the massacre and the tactics and logistics deployed pointed in a different direction.

Apart from the fact that in past months close to 90 per cent of the Spanish electorate had expressed their frustration about the Popular Party getting them into the war in Iraq, what made the voters see red was the fact that the government put up little defence when it was accused of withholding information on the investigation to save the election.

A nation in shock suddenly became angry as the perception grew that government ministers were withholding information to benefit the Popular Party at the polls.

As Socialist deputy German Bel was reported to have said, the Spaniards abandoned the Popular Party because they were sick of the manipulation of Thursday's attacks.

The ultimate in manipulation was the fact that Spanish ambassadors were reported to have been instructed by their Foreign Ministry to blame ETA for the massacre at every possible opportunity.

The Financial Times stated that even the European Commission and the UN Security Council were told that ETA was responsible.

The Spanish counterparts of the local Nationalist Party were punished by the electorate, who threw them out of government in an angry reaction to their handling of the aftermath of the massacre. To cash in on the innocent deaths of so many victims for cheap electoral purposes deserved more than mere resentment and bitterness.

Let us hope that the new Socialist leader, who is the grandson of a republican army officer shot during the civil war by Franco supporters, will bring peace and political stability to the friendly Spanish people - who deserve better in the wake of the traumatic experiences they have been through in the last few days.

In its governance of the economy, Aznar's government had proved to be a high calibre administration. But in its sensitivity and respect towards the voters it ran roughshod over them on two counts; by making Spain a target for Islamic extremists with its support for the Iraq war and by rushing too quickly to accuse the armed Basque separatist group ETA of Madrid's bombings.

No wonder the Socialists, who had abstained from voting last time, came forward with verve and determination in teaching the government a lesson.

Was it not strange that while the Spanish Home Affairs Ministry could find no details on the captured alleged foreign terrorists, such information was available to the lawyers of the victims of the twin towers' mass killing.

This terrible act of retribution was only self-inflicted by the governing Spanish conservative party. A telling lesson for all those who try to make a sham of transparency and accountability.

Mr Brincat is the main opposition spokesman on foreign affairs and IT.

leo.brincat@gov.mt