![]() The next morning, a series of bombs killed 191 Madrid commuter train passengers. “For the first time in this campaign,” she remarked, “I fully understand how the civil war could have taken place here.” On the Wednesday evening before, I met a longtime resident American correspondent in Madrid over a glass of wine. Historical ghosts thought buried, among them Francisco Franco’s, floated to the surface. The country split over the government’s support for America’s involvement in the Iraq war. ![]() The threats of Basque terrorism and Catalonian separatism hung over the election. And yet the 2004 campaign turned unusually bitter. Spain had every reason to feel proud and confident. The ruling right and the opposition left shared equal credit for establishing a democracy and a booming economy after Franco’s death in 1975. Spaniards were richer and freer than ever before. ![]() Here was a modern European success story. SEVEN YEARS AGO this spring, Spain held what should have been a valedictory sort of election. ![]()
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