Centennial One Hundred Years of Annual: the disaster of a war in espadrilles
The absence of official events marked the beginning of the
centenary
of the
Annual Disaster
, military defeat during the War of the Rif that ended the lives of
more than 10,000 Spanish soldiers
10,973, according to
the 'File Picasso'- in just over two weeks 60 kilometers from
Melilla
in a straight line.
Faced with the lack of foresight of the autonomous city government, also of the central one, the
Popular Party
and
Vox
decided to honor the dead with two acts before the
Pantheon of Heroes
of the Purísima cemetery in the city of Melilla. However, the brief manifesto and the floral offering had to be left at the crypt doors due to the lack of authorization from the
General Command of Melilla
. The same episode that happened the previous week during the visit to Melilla of the leader of the opposition,
Pablo Casado
,
a place to which he was allowed access on January 2, 2019.
"The government of the city has not lifted a finger to celebrate the centenary, so we went to ask permission from the
General Command of Melilla
and we were negatively surprised that access to the pantheon was not allowed, when every day there are guided tours and we
had been countless times
", declares to this newspaper
Juan José Imbroda
, president of the autonomous city for 19 years, current leader of the PP in the Melilla Assembly and senator.
Imbroda recalls that the tribute in the city has a double importance: the Disaster itself and the one known as
Socorro a Melilla
, the implacable siege of the Riffians led by
Abd el-Krim
to the city during the days after the
Legion
came
, some tired hosts that covered
100 kilometers on foot
at forced marches. "It is the first time that
sectarian politics has been carried out
with the victims of Annual", assures Imbroda, who attributes the refusal to the lack of foresight of the autonomous and central governments.
"They did not give reasons: they told us that it is not accessed, period," he
says.
EL MUNDO has had access to the exchange of messages between the manager of the Popular Party and the Comandancia in Melilla in which the latter communicates that "after raising their requests through our
Chain of command
, they have just informed us of the
non-authorization
for such visits to the cited pantheon ", without specifying the reason. "
It is the Ministry of Defense that has had to say no
, the Command has only had to cross the messages upward," explains the
popular
leader
.
Fadela Mohatar Maanán
,
popular
deputy
in the Melilla Assembly, claims that the fallen
"also gave their lives for the territorial integrity of Melilla"
and that "it is not understandable that they do not let us celebrate such a normal thing."
In addition, he assures that "there is
no danger to Atapuerca
, the crypt is open for guided tours every day and there is no danger with the safeguarding and protection of the Command."
THERE WERE OTHER PLANS
However, there were a series of acts planned by the
Army General Staff
before the pandemic. A
March 2019
circular (Circular 03/2019 of the Centennial issued by the EME) contemplated the celebration of the anniversary within the framework of an intense plan with
159 activities programmed
for the centenary, also, of the
founding of the Legion
in all its thirds and military units. Finally, almost everything has been reduced to the act held in
Viator
(Almería), base of the third
"Juan de Austria"
, 3rd of the Legion, on 20 September. A ceremony presided over by
King Felipe VI
, the Minister of Defense,
Margarita Robles
, and the Chief of the Army Staff, General
Francisco Javier Varela Salas
.
The circular contemplated the commemoration of the
Aid to Melilla
with an act in
Ronda
, with the Civic-Military race of 101 kilometers of the Legion that inspires the feat;
and with the closing of the centenary with another act in June, this time, in the city of Melilla and its siege, "
commemorating the Heroic Fact of Terrero Event
".
Submerged in a
diplomatic crisis
, neither the Spanish nor the Moroccan governments have planned on their agenda to remember the Annual Disaster.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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