The president of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, has decided on Tuesday to appoint the lieutenant-general of the Army Air Miguel Angel Villarroya Vilalta new Chief of Defence staff (Cds) and, as such, maximum responsible for operating the Armed Forces and principal military adviser to yours. The general Villarroya, until now the head of the Technical Cabinet of the minister of Defence, is a man of the utmost confidence of Margarita Robles, who has respected the unwritten law according to which military personnel of the three armies will take turns at the front of the military leadership, whose last two responsible have been of the Army and the Navy.
until now Cds, general Fernando Alejandre, was proposed in march 2017 by the previous minister of Defense, María Dolores of Cospedal, the PP, and it had never come to be in tune with the new minister, so that it was safe to relay once that had a Government with full authority, after the long stage functions. However, the minister has not wished to wait a minute and has led to their replacement at the first Council of Ministers of the new stage, in what is interpreted in military circles as a gesture of authority.
So disastrous has been the relay that has surprised the general Alejandre in Brussels, where he was participating in a meeting of the Military Committee of the NATO, dedicated to analyze the results of the recent summit, allied London. Sources of the Defence staff pointed out that Alejandre would not stay until the end of the two-day meeting, ahead of his return to Madrid.
According to military sources, the estrangement between the general and the minister began in the wake of the first remains to be of importance to the manifesto apologetic of Franco that was signed by several hundred officers, most retired. Last week it was speculated that Alejandre would have given in to the King, without the knowledge of the minister, a report on the needs of the Armed Forces that appeared in the table of work of Felipe VI in the photographs in which he signed the appointment of Pedro Sánchez as president of the Government.
The lieutenant-general Villarroya, of 62 years, native of La Galera (Tarragona), pilot of transport aircraft, has been the head of the 45 Group of Air Forces, which is responsible for the transfer of authorities and of the Air Command of the Canary islands, as well as deputy director of the European Air Group at High Wycombe (United Kingdom). He has participated in various international missions in the Persian gulf and the Balkans. From April 2017 was the director of the technical cabinet of the minister of Defense (first Cospedal and then Robles) and his appointment brings the ascent to the job of general of the Air (four stars).
Robles has opted not to change to the military leadership on block, but has preferred to relieve as the chief of the Defence staff and to maintain for the time being in their positions the heads of the three armed forces, general Francisco Javier Varela (Earth), Javier Jump (Air) and Teorodoro Lopez Calderon (Navy), whose replacement is expected in the medium term.
