The return of Juan Carlos to Spain does not delight the inhabitants
Juan Carlos had gone into exile in the United Arab Emirates in the face of allegations of corruption;
AFP/File
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3 mins
In judicial exile in Abu Dhabi since 2020, the Spanish king emeritus returns to his country this Thursday, May 19 for a brief visit.
Many residents react to this return with dissatisfaction.
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Juan Carlos I is no longer in the odor of holiness in his country.
After several accusations of corruption and trouble with the tax authorities, he is now at peace with justice, for facts that are prescribed, by the inviolability he enjoyed when he exercised as king, or because he has regularized his situation with the tax authorities.
Father of the current king and 84 years old, Juan Carlos was so disappointed that the majority of the inhabitants no longer liked him.
"
I do not agree with this return
", reacts Santiago, commercial agent, at the microphone of our correspondent in Madrid,
François Musseau
.
“
And if he comes back, let him be judged, because he has committed a crime.
He defrauded and stole money from the public treasury.
He worked as a crooked intermediary for a country that hosted him as king.
Or that he doesn't come back.
»
A central figure in the democratic transition after the death of dictator Franco in 1975, Juan Carlos, who abdicated in 2014, left Spain for Abu Dhabi in August 2020 after increasingly compromising revelations.
He then explained that he wanted to "
facilitate
" his son Felipe VI "
the exercise
" of his functions in the face of "
the public consequences of certain past events in (his) private life
".
But his destination had drawn criticism even more, while his links to the Gulf monarchies are at the center of suspicion over his opaque fortune.
"
Lies
"
Juan Carlos would indeed have received millionaire commissions within the framework of contracts with Saudi Arabia, money which would then have circulated through accounts in Switzerland.
For the majority of Spaniards, he is no longer a moral figure, but a disgraced and decadent former monarch.
Some support him nevertheless, like Pedro, retired.
“
He is a free person, from the point of view of justice, and therefore he can do what he wants, like any Spaniard.
Moral judgments belong to everyone.
In general, these are lies.
»
This visit falls within the framework of the "
desire of His Majesty Juan Carlos to travel regularly to Spain in order to visit his family and friends
" in a "
private
" setting, indicates the press release from the palace, while the possibility that the former monarch's stay in an official palace has drawn criticism in the country.
Juan Carlos will first go to Sanxenxo, a town in Galicia (north-west) where a regatta will be held from Friday in which the
Bribon
, a sailboat with which he was world champion in 2017, will participate.
He will then travel to Madrid on Monday to visit Felipe VI, his wife Sofia and other members of his family before leaving "
the same day
" for Abu Dhabi "
where he has established his permanent residence and stable
,” the palace continued.
Juan Carlos said in March that he maintained his residency in the United Arab Emirates but would travel frequently to Spain after Spanish and Swiss prosecutors dismissed a series of investigations into alleged fraud in his business dealings. 'business.
Juan Carlos could nevertheless be tried in Great Britain in the context of a harassment case brought against him by his former mistress.
(And with
AFP
)
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Spain
Juan Carlos
United Arab Emirates