“A car bomb exploded in the Spanish capital on Wednesday, injuring three people, 45 minutes after a Basque newspaper received a warning in the name of Basque separatist group ETA, police said.”
Reuters One Hour Ago
Thankfully no-one was killed. On this occassion there seems little doubt who was responsible. This bombing follows recent controversial moves by Spanish president Zapatero to open a peace process. At the time of writing the linked post I was optimistic. Despite what has happened today I remain so. Eta is not to be trusted, and it is important to keep this in mind all the time. My ‘off the top of my head’ analysis: negotiations about the conditions for holding negotiations are in process, both sides are trying to exert pressure, the Spanish government is demanding a permanent truce from Eta, Eta is demanding a concentration of prisoners in the Basque region, and so things continue.
Spain does not have a president. They have a king. Zapatero is a prime minister.
Actually, Spain has a president and a king (buy one, get one for free). The president is president of the government only, but really you are right here maybe the Spanish word ‘presidente’ is better translated chairman.
He isn’t exactly a prime minister though so this expression would be misleading. He is not so accountable to the Spanish parliament, although his government is – as we saw in the case of the Iraq war. He also gets to live in a Palace and not a house.