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  • Map.Evolution of the coronavirus in the autonomous regions
  • Madrid: Spanish flags at half-staff in Barajas despite the fact that the Government has still not decreed official mourning for the coronavirus

Why is Spain not in official mourning if the coronavirus has already claimed 23,190 victims ? It is difficult to know, since the Government has avoided giving a concrete answer. The closest thing to an explanation was this phrase by Pedro Sánchez, pronounced on April 18: "To all those people we have lost, as soon as possible, we will pay the tribute they all deserve." "It is much more important to focus our attention on everything working properly," argued the minister spokesperson, María Jesús Montero.

This hesitation has collided with the almost daily insistence of the two main opposition parties, PP and Vox, that mourning be decreed throughout the country as soon as possible. In fact, Pablo Casado and Santiago Abascal appear in all their public events with a black tie, and have placed black crepes on the flag of Spain.

There are four communities that have decreed official mourning: Community of Madrid, Castilla y León, Murcia and Cantabria . In all of them, the regional flags must fly at half-staff, as a sign of mourning. But in the buildings that the Central Administration has in the first three (governed by the PP) this sign of mourning is not respected. There they remain completely hoisted, despite the fact that the protocol is clear: the autonomous ensigns must be located "at half mast" throughout the region, "day and night" when in the autonomous communities "mourning is established by their competent bodies" . This is stipulated in Royal Decree 684/2010 , which regulates military honors.

The Government rejects the mourning for now and postpones the "tribute to the victims"

In Cantabria, however, the flags fly at half-staff in buildings dependent on the Government Delegation, such as the Immigration Office. And not only the autonomic one; also the national one. This community is governed by the Cantabrian Regionalist Party, in coalition with the PSOE.

In the other three autonomies, this newspaper has been able to verify the breach. The Community of Madrid was the first to decree mourning, on April 30. All the autonomous buildings comply with the instructions of the Government of Isabel Díaz Ayuso, while the seats of ministries and the building of the Government Delegation in the capital do not.

There are exceptions, such as the Barajas Airport , in which the autonomous decree was enforced and the regional flags were placed at half-staff. So, it was decided to do the same with those of Spain and the EU that are next to them, to homogenize. Although the truth is that the law does not specify that there must be uniformity.

The truth is that the Law of flags does not allow to put black crepes, or any other "symbol", to the flag of Spain, as does the PP in its municipalities, its communities and its national headquarters. And the Military Honors Regulations always refer to mourning for past events. Furthermore, it stipulates that mourning is established "for a specified period of time." That is to say, as Cantabria has done (it has been set until May 9), and not like the PP communities.

The law allows regional mourning, but does not put crepes on the flag of Spain

In Castilla y León the measure was taken on April 3. "Even the Government Delegation still does not have the flags at half-staff," complain to the Government chaired by Alfonso Fernández Mañueco. The same occurs in Murcia, which declared the official duel that same day and in which the Executive Delegation of Pedro Sánchez has not half lowered the regional flag.

The PP has made national mourning one of its main demands. For this reason, the regional duel in Madrid, Castilla y León and Murcia will be joined by Andalusia and Galicia , which have not yet taken the step but will consummate it "soon", according to sources from both regional executives.

"The suffering that Spanish society is experiencing does not understand ideologies, it belongs to everyone and the institutions must show sensitivity and be at all times the expression of the sentiment their citizens live, not stay on the sidelines," says Cuca Gamarra , Deputy Secretary General of PP Social Policy. "Declaring official mourning in institutions is the symbol of respect for those who have died and of support in pain for those who are experiencing it in the first person, is not to place institutions on the fringes of the society they represent," he adds.

The popular ones ugly Pedro Sánchez who decreed national mourning for Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba and not for the victims of Covid-19. And that he does not wear a black tie, when he wore it for the victims of the attack on the Bataclan Hall in Paris.

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  • PP
  • Spain
  • Pedro Sánchez
  • Regionalist Party of Cantabria
  • Vox
  • Pablo Casado
  • PSOE
  • Maria Jesus Montero
  • Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba
  • Alfonso Fernández Mañueco
  • Politics
  • Health
  • Coronavirus
  • Covid 19

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