Felipe González claims to be someone "free" who says what he thinks and "controversial" because he doesn't swallow everything

The former president of the socialist Government Felipe González has claimed this Thursday as a "free" man because he says what he thinks, and someone "controversial", an attribute that he has valued because, as he has maintained, "he who is not controversial is one who swallows with all".

These are ideas that the former general secretary of the PSOE has expressed throughout the speech he gave upon receiving in Seville, from the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, the V Ibero-American 'Torre del Oro' Prize, promoted from 2018 by the Cajasol Foundation and the Seville Chamber of Commerce on an annual basis.

The mayor of Seville, José Luis Sanz, also participated in the event; the president of the Cajasol Foundation, Antonio Pulido; the president of the Chamber of Commerce of Seville and the Ibero-American Association of Chambers of Commerce, Francisco Herrero; the president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, and the president of the jury that awarded this award, Enrique Iglesias.

The event was also attended by, among others, the former vice president of the Government Alfonso Guerra, the former socialist presidents of the Junta de Andalucía Manuel Chaves and José Rodríguez de la Borbolla; the president of the Andalusian Parliament, Jesús Aguirre; the Andalusian Minister of Educational Development and Vocational Training, Patricia del Pozo; the president of the Seville Provincial Council, Javier Fernández; the general secretary of the PSOE-A, Juan Espadas, and the PP senator and former president of the Andalusian PP Javier Arenas.

In a political context marked by the negotiations for the investiture of a President of the Government after the general elections of July 23, and those that could be carried out by the leader of the PSOE, Pedro Sánchez, with pro-independence and nationalist parties to achieve re-election. With his support in the Congress of Deputies as head of the Executive, Felipe González has focused his speech upon receiving this award on his relations with Latin America throughout his life.

In fact, he began by commenting that he had just arrived from Santiago de Chile, where he was able to attend the commemoration of the 50th anniversary of Augusto Pinochet's coup d'état that overthrew the government of Salvador Allende in September 1973.

However, throughout his speech, Felipe González has slipped messages such as that he considered himself a "controversial" man, and in this regard he has stated that he who "is not controversial means that he swallows everything." "Let them free us from the non-controversial, those who are capable of getting along with everyone at the same time," because "they have something," since "you have to be controversial," he also stated during his speech.

Furthermore, he has acknowledged that he makes "few public appearances," and that he considers himself "free because I say what I think," and "responsible because I think what I say, and that forces me to keep quiet much more than I would like, because now the People speak first and then think about what they have said," he commented.

"I feel free because I say what I think and I say it with respect. Not what they say I say, but what I say, which is not the same," added the one who was President of the Government between 1982 and 1996.

At another point in his speech, he alluded to the constitutional pact and the Moncloa pacts reached in Spain in 1977, to the "agreement of coexistence in peace and freedom of the Spanish people" that supported "that which is so reviled now that they call the 'regime '78, which I immediately adopted with pride", and that "effectively it was a regime because it was something new and different from what we had left behind", he added.

ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH IBERO AMERICA

Regarding his relationship with the countries of Latin America, Felipe González has highlighted that he has been traveling through that part of the American continent for "more than 50 years", and has explained that the "initial purpose" of his tour through Latin America was to "what was happening in Spain" in those years of the Transition after the dictatorship of Francisco Franco "will happen in countries where there was no democracy."

In this context, and within the framework of his intervention, he has dedicated special attention to his first trip to Chile, in September 1977, three months after the elections to the Constituent Cortes of Spain, to, in his capacity as a lawyer, try to "get out of jail" a senator and the position equivalent to governor of the central bank of that country.

The former president has also alluded during his acceptance speech for the award to historical leaders of Latin America, such as the current president of Nicaragua, Daniel Ortega, whom he has called "a satrap who is capable of denying nationality, like so many dictators, to extraordinary people." ", and "that he is (Anastasio) Somoza but worse, that he has done everything that Somoza has done and more", as he added, and at that point is when he commented that, "when one says that, it becomes a controversial person", but "those who are not controversial, swallow everything".

Felipe González has defended that "Spain's commitment to Latin America has been a commitment of truth, commitment, medium and long term", and has stressed that Spain's "links" with these countries transcend the economic and are " identity".

The former president concluded his speech by thanking him for the 'Torre del Oro' award, which he said he received with an "emotion" that he has tried to "hide so that it is not too noticeable", and which he said "links him to Latin America more if possible", although he does not know "if more is possible, after 50" or more years touring "all the lands of America from part to part throughout the entire continent", as he has highlighted.

PRAISE TO GONZÁLEZ'S CAREER

Before Felipe González, those who attended from the presidential table spoke in this event, starting with the president of the Cajasol Foundation, Antonio Pulido, who underlined the "transformative nature" of the former president's government work and his "profound effort for delving into the fruitful space of the relationship with Ibero-America", just as he has valued that "he speaks when he has to speak, whether you like what he says or not", from a "kind of 'auctoritas'" that comes from his "bravery", as he has defended.

The president of the Chamber of Commerce of Seville and the Ibero-American Association of Chambers of Commerce, Francisco Herrero, has defended that Felipe González gave on "outstanding occasions" throughout his career as President of the Government "signs of his interest in improving relations between Spain and Ibero-America".

The president of the Spanish Chamber of Commerce, José Luis Bonet, has also assessed that Spain's relations with Latin America experienced "a strong boost" during the González government, of whom he highlighted his "strategic vision of what those relations should be like." ", from a "European and Ibero-American vocation", after which he has defended that people like the former socialist president "constitute a model and an inspiration to strengthen these economic relations and deepen everything that unites us to Latin America."

Finally, the president of the award jury, Enrique Iglesias, who received the same award in its first edition, in 2018, referred to González as a "great Sevillian and Spaniard", and took advantage of the occasion to underline the "very need important" today to "reestablish a strong link between Europe and Latin America".