The Minister of Consumer Affairs, Alberto Garzón, through his Twitter account in 2013 described NATO as a “legal terrorism organization”. He expressed it this way in his profile next to a photo of a frigate located in the port of Malaga.
“Here in Malaga one of the frigates of the legal terrorism organization NATO, on its way to Syria,” Garzón explained. At that time, the Minister of Consumption was already a deputy for the United Left (IU) in Congress and would later be appointed general coordinator of training.
Asked this Tuesday for his opinion on NATO -during his appearance at the press conference after the Council of Ministers together with the second vice president, Yolanda Díaz, and the Government spokesperson, Isabel Rodríguez- the head of Consumption avoided tensing the coalition, alluding to the fact that IU’s position is “clear”, and its “genealogy, history”.
With this he alluded to the fact that the leftist coalition, led by the Communist Party of Spain (PCE) was born in the mid-1980s precisely in the heat of the NO campaign in the referendum on remaining in the Atlantic Alliance called by Felipe González. Likewise, Garzón avoided the issue by stressing the “absolute, unwavering commitment of this political force, of the IU, is with the agreement of the coalition government, and I am absolutely comfortable developing those agreements.”
The strong criticism against NATO issued by members of the coalition government is well known. The rejection from Podemos has been total and forceful, and has been increased in recent days coinciding with the celebration of the 40th anniversary of Spain’s entry into NATO, which was not attended by members of United We Can.
“No space minister has attended this event today because we are precisely in defense of peace and in a conception of security that is not only security by military means, but one that is comprehensive and also involves integrating social rights. », Javier Sánchez Serna and Isa Serra, spokespersons for the Purple Party Executive, explained at a press conference.
However, the Second Vice President and Minister of Labor, Yolanda Díaz, did not participate because she had “medical tests”. Moreover, the Podemos ministers, who justified her absence in their rejection of the Atlantic Alliance, were not really invited. Díaz, after the Council of Ministers, has not confirmed whether she will be at the NATO summit to be held in Madrid on June 29 and 30, but she has not supported the criticism of her from Podemos comrades either.
