Cabinet changes, finally but…

Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero made some key changes to his Cabinet last week. It is part of his strategic battle with the economic crisis. That´s the good news. The bad news is there isn´t any politically unspoiled blood coming into government. Instead of a transformation it is more to be expected as a recycling of an already tired Cabinet. There are some good things in the works. The prime minister finally listened to his critics and decided to replace his patron saint of credit doom, Pedro Solbes, as Finance minister. But instead of bringing in a fresh technocrat – and believe me there is some good talent out in the private sector – Zapatero has decided to put his current minister of public administration, Elena Salgado, in charge of getting us out of this monstrosity.
José Blanco, the former secretary general of the Socialist Party (PSOE), will join the government as Public Works minister, replacing the embattled Magdalena Álvarez who, despite harsh criticisms over how she handled the bottleneck of airport traffic during last January´s snowfall, remained confident. One big surprise concerns Manuel Chaves, the Andalusia regional premier, who is said to leave his post and accept the portfolio of the government´s regional communities liaison. Changes indeed, but for better or worse, no one knows.

Stop the cheering

Easter is over, which for me means that the dreadful San Isidro fiestas patronales are just around the corner. For about 10 days in May at around 8pm, Madrid’s elderly bunch, fresh and filled with adrenaline from the afternoon bullfights, rudely push and shove their way into the already commuter-crowded Metro’s green line without even mumbling an “excuse me.” It is an annual occurrence at the Ventas station stop where these ghostly seniors expect passengers in a stuffy train to squash even further so they can get in. They are a rude lot, indeed! But it is not surprising – anyone who pays to see defenceless animals being slaughtered cannot be considered well-bred or even well-in-the-head. Just for once, I would like to be the spectator at a one-on-one between a bank official and one of these blood-thirsty fogies as they are told that, because of some bureaucratic fumble, their monthly pension will be days late in arriving. ¡Ole! But for now, I just pray that I live to see a ballsy European Commission wedge its own puntilla in Spain’s backside and put a stop to this stupid spectacle.  
Until last year, cockfighting was still legal in Louisiana – the only US state, before Congress put its foot down, where this shameful birdblood-for-bets event still occurred. However, in the US territory of Puerto Rico cockfighting still flourishes despite pressure by animal rights activists.
In San Juan, the Caribbean island capital where I lived for 12 years, on any given Sunday you can hear the screeching of roosters rising above the thunderous cheers of inebriated gamblers as you pass the fighting ring which, by the way, is located in the middle of a busy tourist section. Puerto Ricans have been able to convince Washington authorities that cockfights go hand-in-hand with rum, salsa music, plantains and other emblems of their cultural heritage. It also brings in fresh cash to the local treasury.  
When it comes to mistreatment, heritage and profit do not make acceptable arguments. In the UK and US, it was once the norm to force children to go to work to help support their families and, during the 19th century, slavery was considered a necessity to preserve the southern way of life in the United States, including my native Texas, until a civil war was fought. Russia last month began prohibiting the killing of baby seals less than one year’s old – a practice that is still going on in Canada, where 97 percent of the seals slaughtered are less than three months old, according to the Humane Society. Can you imagine? Russia—the land of ushankas and babushkas?  
Hemingway is dead; he shot himself. Time moves on. At least five Spanish cities and towns – including Barcelona – have woken up and banned bull fighting all together. But of course, there is much to be done. The Humane Society reports that more than 250,000 bulls are slaughtered annually in practices and fights around the world. That is the near the populations of Lisbon or Rochester, New York. Some countries, such as Portugal have already banned fighting where the bull is massacred. Unfortunately, Spain has n´t taken note. There are some helpful tips in the Society’s website www.hsus.org on how consumers can pressure their local governments and companies that advertise at bullrings to stop supporting this venture. But nothing takes the place of educating our children.  
Some of my younger Spanish friends, who despise bullfighting or are indifferent to it, say that it is a dying spectator event and predict that it won’t be around in 50 years. Sorry, that’s too long to wait.