What is going on

[comrade_mufasa]

The newly elected president of Spain is a hardlined socialist. Has he made any reforms? Is he nationalizing any businesses or property? isnt he opening relations with Cuba? What is going on in Spain?

[h&s]

He's not a socialist - he's meant to be a left-ish reformist. I don't know much about him, but my moneys on him being a post-USSR neo-liberal, like almost all mainstream left wing parties.

[fuerzasocialista]

Zapatero is a Social Democrat (His party's name is the Spanish Workers Socialist Party). In other words, he's not really a hardline Socialist and is just looking to make capitalism more equitable for working class people. Even so, I hear people in Spain are satisfied with him for the most part. They are still pissed at Aznar and the popular party for lying to them about the March 11 bombings when they continually blamed ETA while evidence was mounting that it was Islamic extremists that were responsible. One of the things that I have noted about Zapatero is his willingness to reach out to Latin America. No other Spaniard president has really done that. His government has expressed its backing of Hugo Chavez in Venezuela and has accused the popular party and Aznar for supporting the coup against Chavez in 2002 while Aznar was president of Spain. Zapatero is also trying to open up the European Union to Cuba. His government has exchanged positive correspondances with the Cuban government and Fidel Castro offered his congratulations when Zapatero became president.

Zapatero made good on his promise on withdrawing Spanish troops from Iraq a month after he took office. And that really pissed off Bush. So much to the point that he doesn't have any personal correspondance with Zapatero and was leaving it all to Colin Powell. And in turn, that pissed off the Spanish government. I just wish Zapatero was a hardline Socialist...