Word: spain
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...trip from the new Spain to the old is but a five-minute stroll across a gleaming white bridge that spans the Guadalquivir River in Seville. On one / side, near the monastery where Christopher Columbus was once buried, rise the extravagant pavilions of the Universal Exposition. There, 250 fountains gurgle, 325,000 newly planted trees and shrubs shade the weary, and 96 restaurants replenish the hungry. But once over the bridge, sidewalks crumble and the highway dead-ends in a stinking garbage dump known as El Vacie. Within earshot of Expo 92's loudspeakers, 500 Sevillians elbow one another...
...decades ago, the slum's misery would have raised few eyebrows. That was before Spain, dismissed as Europe's Third World backwater, shook off its authoritarian past and propelled itself into relative prosperity. As much as the quincentenary of its "encounter" with America, this country of 39 million is celebrating -- with justifiable swagger -- its breakneck pace of change since General Francisco Franco's death in 1975. Moreover, 1992 marks 10 years of stable democracy under Prime Minister Felipe Gonzalez , a pragmatic Socialist. And it coincides with Spain's integration into the European single market, a source of pride after decades...
Spaniards speak of their present desencanto, or disenchantment, as if it were akin to a disease. "Spain is ailing," says Jose Maria Aznar, head of the conservative Partido Popular. "A climate of anxiety has taken hold." Even the popular Barcelona Games, which have spurred an architectural renaissance in that aging port, have been besieged by Catalan nationalists insisting that their flag be flown and their anthem played. Last week police arrested seven armed members of the Catalan independence movement for plotting to kidnap an Olympic athlete or official. A newspaper headline groused, THE OLYMPICS WILL COST EACH TAXPAYER MORE THAN...
...coalition leader Julio Anguita called "the interminable rosary of scandals." Last year Gonzalez's Deputy Prime Minister resigned after allegations of influence peddling involving his brother. In January another Minister was forced out after a railroad speculation scandal. Last week Gonzalez named a new head of the Bank of Spain, following media allegations linking the incumbent to an insider-trading scheme, charges he denies. "Spain does not have a worse corruption problem than surrounding countries," the beleaguered Gonzalez told parliament. "But it does have a public opinion problem...
...Spaniards protest too much? Many would argue that their situation is no worse than that in the rest of Europe, where the prosperous 1980s have evolved into the recessionary 1990s and the popularity of most governing parties is falling. But Spain's ruckus seems perversely timed: Expo has attracted about 7 million visitors in 10 weeks, Madrid is preening as this year's European Cultural Capital, and refurbished Barcelona is welcoming 7,000 members of the international media for the country's first Olympics. "It's good to be self- critical, " says Angel Luis Gonzalo, head of Spain's Expo...