I recently spoke with a good Spanish friend in Dallas.  We naturally discussed the political chaos in his country.

By the way, most Cubans of my generation have a connection to Spain because so many of our grandparents or ancestors came to the island from there.  Many of us grew up with Spanish holiday traditions and food.  As a boy, I remember pre-Castro Cuba full of Spanish merchants, such as my own grandfather and his three enterprising brothers.

My friend today also remembered the day that terrorism came to Spain, when 191 people were killed and 2,000 injured.

Some call it "3-11" or "11 de Marzo."  It happened when 10 bombs exploded in the busy morning rush hour.

Within hours, candidate Rodríguez Zapatero of the left was running around blaming Prime Minister José María Aznar and the Spanish government's support of the Iraq war.  Zapatero, as we known him in the West, took a shot at everybody but said little about the criminal terrorists who set off the bombs. 

Three days later, the left was back in power with a plurality of the vote.

Today, there are no Spanish troops in Iraq.  We cannot say the same about terrorist cells in Spain!

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