Redaccion
The president of Madrid, Isabel Díaz Ayuso, has sent a letter to the Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, asking her to reconsider her decision to prevent the military parade in Puerta del Sol, at the institutional event organized by the Community of Madrid on the occasion of Dos de Mayo.
In the letter, Díaz Ayuso expresses her «disappointment» that, for the first time in the region’s history, the traditional civic-military event in homage to the heroes of the uprising against the French occupation, which included a military parade, will not take place.
Ayuso asserts that the central government will prohibit the military parade on May 2nd in Madrid
The regional president tells Robles that the people of Madrid «have always been very united to their Armed Forces», so she does not want them to be «artificially distanced».
«Canceling the Army’s participation precisely in the commemoration events of May 2nd represents an unprecedented blow to the people of Madrid and to the Army itself, in its most significant regional celebration,» she criticizes in the letter.
Margarita Robles: «Inspecting with a pasodoble may not be the best choice»
The Minister of Defense, Margarita Robles, has justified that the Army will not participate this year in the homage at Puerta del Sol in Madrid to the heroes of May 2nd, stating that it is a civil event.
«Inspecting with a pasodoble may not be the best choice,» Minister Robles has stated in defense of her arguments.
Robles has clarified that the military will be present at other celebrations of May 2nd, such as the traditional floral offering in the morning to the fallen at the Florida cemetery and at the retreat the day before.
During a press conference after the Council of Government, the spokesperson for the regional Executive, Miguel Ángel García, has indicated that the Army will not participate this year in May 2nd under the «excuse» that Robles is traveling in Latvia, although he has pointed out that the military parade has taken place on other occasions «with or without the presence» of the Defense Minister, both at this event in Madrid and in other regions for similar celebrations.
In his view, it is a «sectarian» and «discriminatory» decision by the minister, who justified on Wednesday that the Army will not participate this year in the homage at Puerta del Sol by stating that it is a civil event, although she emphasized that it will be present at other «strictly military» celebrations.
The Community accuses Sánchez of «sectarianism» in the threat to leave Madrid without a military parade on May 2nd
This is the case of the traditional floral offering on that day to the fallen at the Florida cemetery and at the retreat the previous day because, according to Robles, «we understand that the civic event should remain a civic event,» and she added that «inspecting with a pasodoble in a military event may not be the best choice.»
«What we learned today, from the minister’s mouth, is that it is because she does not like pasodobles. Pasodobles, chosen by the Army itself and not by the Government of the Community of Madrid,» stated García, who emphasized that the Executive is «punishing the regional government,» but also «all the people of Madrid.»
The spokesperson criticized that the decision was communicated through a phone call from the Ministry of Defense’s office to the Presidency of the Community of Madrid, with «no justification other than that trip.»
And he emphasized that the Army is «one of the most valued institutions» by the people of Madrid, so he censured the «exercise of sectarianism» by the Government of Pedro Sánchez towards the Community of Madrid.
