A Shrewd King

Juan Carlos proves himself

It was King Juan Carlos' first official tour of Spain's volatile, autonomy-minded Basque country, and the reception was often only lukewarm, sometimes hostile. Security forces outnumbered the crowds nearly everywhere, and at most of their stops--from Vitoria to San Sebastian --the King and his wife, Queen Sofia, also had to endure the presence of angry Basque demonstrators, who were raising clenched-fist salutes and chanting anthems and slogans in their ancient language.

A turning point came at Guernica, the Basques' spiritual center. Thirty members of the militant Herri Batasuna Party loudly cut off the King's address with an old Basque fighting song. It took security guards ten minutes to subdue the demonstrators in an unseemly scene that was carried over national television. Clearly prepared for the outbreak, a composed Juan Carlos turned it to advantage. At one point he smiled mischievously, goading the protesters to sing louder. Then, with order restored, he took command with an eloquent gesture of national reconciliation. "Faced with those who practice intolerance of free expression, I reaffirm my faith in democracy and confidence in the Basque people," he told the cheering audience, and went on to legitimize nonviolent Basque nationalism.

The performance was vintage Juan Carlos: persuasive, a shade theatrical, and courageous. Most of his advisers had urged him not to make the trip in the first place. With the sudden resignation of Prime Minister Adolfo Suarez only the week before, the country was in the first political crisis of its democratic post-Franco era. No successor to Suarez had yet been named, mainly because the likely choice, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo, had failed to receive sufficient support from his party. But most Spaniards seemed confident. They knew that if an effective government emerged from the crisis, much of the credit would have to go to Juan Carlos. More than anyone else, he has been instrumental in shepherding Spain through its risky political transition.

Spaniards did not always have such confidence in Juan Carlos, a direct descendant of the Bourbon King Louis XIV and Queen Victoria. Once described as "the son Franco never had," Juan Carlos had been hand-picked by the Generalissimo as his heir for a modern Spain. With foresight Franco had instructed the future King that "you will have to manage in another way than I do." Yet, despite a reputation for libertarian ideals, Juan Carlos raised few expectations when he became King at age 37, two days after Franco's death. Indeed, political wags cynically dubbed the shy Commander of the Army "Juan Carlos the Brief."

"The Shrewd" might have been more like it. Even before securing the throne, he had sent out feelers to exiled Communists and other leftists, inviting them to return and join the new system as long as they played by the rules. Yet he outmaneuvered the old franquistas as well by appointing a democratic-minded member of their establishment -- Adolfo Suarez -- to head his government. A personal friend, Suarez had impressed Juan Carlos by his ability to work within the bureaucracy. At the same time, as head of the armed forces, Juan Carlos maintained solid personal relations with the officer corps and thus minimized the threat of a military coup at every risky political turn.

Since Suarez's resignation, Juan Carlos has been hoping that the Prime Minister's Union of the Democratic Center Party might suspend its endemic in fighting long enough to agree on a replacement by the time parliament begins its next session this week. Though right-and left-wing factions continued to bicker over the selection of Calvo-Sotelo, it was still probable he would be selected as the next Prime Minister. Meanwhile, the Socialist Party quietly tried to gain its own advantage. Last week there was speculation that the popular party leader Felipe Gonzalez, 39, might formally propose a coalition government if the Democratic Center Party split grows any wider. Juan Carlos has made it clear that he would never block a Socialist or any other regime as long as it was democratically chosen. That is just one more sign that the King's hopes for Spanish democracy are far from brief. qed

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