Word: madrid
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...symbol of reconciliation for a young democracy racked by leftist terrorism on the one hand and threatened on the other by disgruntled right-wingers anxious to return to the dictatorial days of Francisco Franco. Only three days before the Pope's white Alitalia 727 touched down at Madrid's Barajas Airport, Spanish voters had given Socialist Felipe González Márquez, 40, a landslide victory in national elections. Arriving during a tense period of political transition, the Pope told King Juan Carlos, González and the nation's military leaders, "I would like...
...pointed use of "legitimate," the Pope was indirectly expressing his disapproval of earlier right-wing attempts to overthrow the government. The papal defense of democracy proved sadly timely. Two days later, terrorists struck in Madrid in what outgoing Prime Minister Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo called "a provocation, not only against the armed forces but against the Spanish people who voted massively for harmony." Two men mounted on motorbikes used submachine guns to riddle the official car of Major General Victor Lago Román, 63, who, after the dismissal of right-wing officers last year, was named commander of the Brunete...
That speech came as a climax to a late night vigil at Socialist election headquarters in Madrid's Palace Hotel. A crowd of some 4,000 applauded as results were flashed on a giant 30-ft. color-television screen outside the hotel. Party workers sent up occasional chants of "Felipe, Presidentel Felipe, Presidente!" while other supporters converged on the capital's main square, singing, dancing and hugging one another. One grizzled workingman with a red bandanna on his neck embraced a well-wisher with tears in his eyes and announced hoarsely, "España socialista!" Overall, however...
González's campaign ended in Madrid, where a crowd of 200,000 gathered under floodlights to cheer him. Following an elaborate multimedia show, González appeared at the podium for his final pre-election speech. His intense, perspiring face was projected on a giant TV screen, erected over the center stage, that enabled the crowd to see the candidate's face from half a mile away. Dressed in a gray flannel suit and sporting fashionably long hair, González called the election "a plebiscite, which confronts the people with a choice between a Socialist...
...flush of the Socialists' victory, González and his fellow moderates may come under heavy pressure from their left wing to launch radical economic and social programs. "To the extent that Felipe may have to accommodate some of that leftist pressure," said a diplomatic observer in Madrid, "it would invite a strong attack from the right...