A GUIDEPOST REPRINT: “NEWS/SPAIN, 3 AUGUST 1984
“NEWS/SPAIN”
First published in GUIDEPOST
3 August 1984
Diplomat accused of arming terrorists planning attacks in Spain
EXPELLED IRANIAN DIPLOMAT LEAVES SPAIN. . . An Iranian diplomat accused of supplying weapons to four Islamic terrorists left Madrid for Geneva after Spanish authorities gave him 24 hours to leave the country. Cultural attache Mohamed Jafar, 38, was accused of supplying arms to four Iranian members of the extremist Shi’ite group “Martyrs of the Islamic Revolution” who according to police were planning terrorist attacks in Spain and elsewhere in Europe. The four men, all students in their twenties, were arrested in Madrid and Barcelona. Police seized rocket launchers, grenades and explosives in a raid on the suspected terrorists’ flat in Barcelona, which was being used as a clearing center for Iranians wounded in the war with Iraq. The suspected terrorists will be tried under Spain’s anti-terrorist legislation.
Anti-NATO poster ahead of the NATO referendum in 1986
GUERRA RULES OUT MEMBERSHIP OF NATO’S MILITARY WING. . . Spain’s deputy prime minister said entry into the military wing of NATO was out of the question and that Spain had to choose between remaining a political partner in the Atlantic alliance or withdrawing completely. “As far as I know, nobody in the Socialist Party has ever considered full membership,” Alfonso Guerra said in an El Pais interview. He reiterated the Socialist government’s campaign pledge to put the issue to a referendum, to be held sometime next year. The Socialists, who campaigned on an anti- NATO platform, froze negotiations to enter the military wing of the alliance when they took office in December, 1982. Guerra told El Pais NATO membership contributed nothing to Spain’s defense. “Who can doubt that Spain is already committed to the military defense of the West when there are five foreign bases on our territory,” he said. Entry in the political wing of NATO in May, 1982, under the former UCD (Centrist) government had not affected Spain’s sovereignty, he said. “It would not be honest to say that Spaniards suffer obsessive psychological or military pressure since we joined NATO,” Guerra said. “At least I don’t.” He said NATO membership would be discussed in December at the Socialist Party’s first congress since the 1982 elections. Recent surveys showed 56 per cent of Spaniards were against NATO membership, while only 17 per cent would vote in favor.
FRANCE TO LIFT BAN ON SPANISH ASPARAGUS. . . French authorities are planning to lift a ban imposed on Spanish asparagus Imports after investigators isolated a shipment of the tinned vegetables blamed for the food poisoning of four Frenchmen. According to a report released by the authorities in Pamplona, the French Agricultural Ministry had detected a botulism-causing toxin in three tins of asparagus canned by the V. Garcia company in Pamplona. The asparagus was sold through the French company Beaumont and labelled as “Picnic.” The report said the entire shipment of 2,800 cans sold to France had been confiscated by the French authorities. Other batches sent to Germany and Denmark were also held by authorities for analysis.
SALES OF ORAL SUN-TANNER SUSPENDED BY HEALTH MINISTRY. . . The Spanish Health Ministry has suspended sales of an oral tanner which doctors have warned can damage users’ eyesight. According to medical sources, repeated doses of the drug centaxantina, contained in the oral tanner “Bronzesan”, affects the eyesight of an estimated 12 per cent of consumers hoping to get a rapid suntan through taking the tablets. The Health Ministry froze shipments of the tanner in the Sanofarma laboratories, makers of the drug, and in warehouses and pharmacies nationwide. According to Sanofarma medical consultants, tests on animals had shown the oral tanner to be ••harmless and had not produced the aliments alleged by doctors.
GUIDEPOST cover and “News/Spain” on page 10 of GUIDEPOST’s 3 August 1984 issue
Images supplied by GUIDEPOST from various sources
Featured image (Guidepost collage: “Stop Terror” by Alexas_Fotos, Pixabay. Granade by OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay)
Armed Arab/Jimbo457, Pixabay. Edited.
Anti-NATO poster/Unitat Poble Valencià, PD via Wikimedia Commons
Asparagus/GrumpyBeere, Pixabay. Edited.
Sun/OpenClipart-Vectors, Pixabay. Edited.
