Blog de Juan Pardo

Ha muerto el expresidente del Congreso, Fernando Álvarez de Mirqanda

Fernando Álvarez de Miranda, que presidió el Congreso de los Diputados entre 1977 y 1979 y fue Defensor del Pueblo de 1994 a 1999, falleció la noche del sábado en su domicilio de Madrid a los 92 años a causa de un infarto, informaron fuentes familiares.

Nacido en Santander, el 14 de enero de 1924, fue el primer presidente del Congreso de los Diputados con la Constitución ya en vigor. Álvarez de Miranda estaba licenciado en Derecho y durante años compatibilizó la docencia con la abogacía. En 1954 fundó junto a los juristas Joaquín Satrústegui y Dionisio Ridruejo la Asociación Española de Cooperación Europea, de la fue secretario general. Cuatro años más tarde participó en la fundación de laDemocracia Social Cristiana, de José María Gil-Robles.

En junio de 1962 acudió al Congreso del Movimiento Europeo, conocido como el "contubernio de Múnich" y a su regreso de esta reunión de fuerzas moderadas opositoras al régimen de Franco fue deportado a Fuerteventura.

Fernando Álvarez de Miranda junto a José Manuel García-Margallo y Jesús Posada en 2013. (EFE)

De nuevo en la península, en 1964 el Conde de Barcelona le nombró miembro de su Consejo Privado. Alejado de la formación de Gil-Robles, formó parte del partido Izquierda Demócrata Cristiana, presidida por Ruiz-Giménez, y en la que ocupó la vicepresidencia. A raíz del Congreso de Izquierda Democrática Cristiana en El Escorial (Madrid), en abril de 1976, encabezó una importante escisión de la que nació Izquierda Democrática, en la que fue elegido vicepresidente.

Su paso por este partido fue efímero ya que en noviembre de ese año creó el Partido Popular Demócrata Cristiano (PPDC) del que fue presidente. Meses después, en abril de 1977, el PPDC y la Unión Democrática Española (UDE) se fusionaron para formar el Partido Demócrata Cristiano (PDC), en el que también estuvo al frente de la presidencia. Antes de las elecciones generales Constituyentes del 15 de junio de 1977 se integró en Unión de Centro Democrático (UCD).

Tras estos comicios ocupó la presidencia del Congreso de los Diputados, cargo en el que permaneció hasta 1979. Fue una de las cinco personas que firmaron el texto final de la Constitución de 1978. Renovó su escaño en el Congreso el 1 de marzo de 1979.

En julio de 1980 se reincorporó al Cuerpo de Técnicos Administrativos de la Diputación Provincial de Madrid, del que había sido expedientado por su participación en el Congreso de Munich, pero en diciembre pidió una excedencia. Al año siguiente, en enero de 1981, fue elegido en Bruselas para ocupar una de las seis vicepresidencias del Movimiento Europeo, ligado a las Comunidades Europeas.

En un momento crítico para España, como consecuencia del terrorismo de ETA y el intento de golpe de Estado, en mayo de 1981 durante una reunión del Consejo Político de UCD se mostró favorable al restablecimiento de la pena de muerte para casos excepcionales de terrorismo.

En pleno período de desintegración de UCD, en febrero de 1983, tras la dimisión de la presidencia de Landelino Lavilla, fue elegido miembro de la Comisión Gestora donde permaneció hasta su disolución en 1985. En febrero de 1986 fue nombrado embajador en El Salvador cargo desde el que participó en las negociaciones de paz con la guerrilla y en el que se mantuvo hasta 1989.

Miembro electivo del Consejo de Estado desde el 30 de noviembre de 1990, años después, en noviembre de 1994, fue nombrado Defensor del Pueblo donde sustituyó a Álvaro Gil Robles y donde permaneció hasta 1999.

Durante su mandato se mostró partidario de la reforma del Defensor del Pueblo, reclamó pensiones de viudedad para parejas de hecho y anunció la creación de una asesoría especial sobre violencia doméstica. Presidió la Fundación Humanismo y Democracia de 1979 a 1989. La recopilación de sus artículos y conferencias aparecieron publicados en el libro 'Al servicio de la democracia'. En noviembre de 2013 presentó en el Congreso sus memorias 'La España que soñé'. Además, estaba en posesión de la Gran Cruz de la Orden de Carlos III, la Gran Cruz de la Orden de Leopoldo II (Bélgica) y es Gran Oficial de la Orden Nacional del Mérito de Francia.

Sus restos mortales permanecen en el tanatorio de la M-30, en Madrid, y este lunes serán incinerados en el cementerio de La Almudena.

Fernando Álvarez de Miranda tomada en noviembre de 2013

Elecciones USA: Hillary vs. Trump, la campaña del miedo

The End (2): Nacionalismo (Trump) vs. globalización (Hillary)

Es humor republicano instalando la cuestión de género: En la gorra de Donald Trump dice su característico "Hacer grande a América otra vez", y en la de Hillary un hipotético "Porque soy mujer... y tú me debes".

La ahora segura nominación de Donald Trump es un acontecimiento histórico en la vida del Partido Republicano. El último republicano que llegó a la presidencia sin nunca antes haber servido en cargos electorales fue Dwight Eisenhower, nada menos que el comandante de las Fuerzas Aliadas en Europa durante la Segunda Guerra. Ahora Trump parece tener posibilidades de seguir los pasos de Eisenhower.

Esta vez, sin embargo, no fue necesario liberar Europa. Bastó construir una narrativa de un Estados Unidos declinante, ubicar a Obama y a los Clinton en el grupo de los principales responsables y prometer un futuro crecimiento y dignidad para el pueblo de Estados Unidos. Algo similar intentó hacer Ted Cruz. Pero Trump tuvo la astucia de tocar el nervio republicano y a la vez presentar nuevas ideas para encarar viejos problemas, como por ejemplo mostrarse crítico hacia el libre comercio o terminar con el embargo a Cuba, una antigua bandera republicana.

En este punto, se merece el crédito de haber dejado en el camino a un fascista con ropaje democrático.Mientras tanto, Hillary Clinton omite el hecho de que su competencia con Sanders no terminó aún y ya piensa en Trump. Las encuestas le dan una ventaja a Clinton, que va de siete a diez puntos según la encuestadora. Pero Clinton, a su vez, enfrenta mucha resistencia en la gente y exhibe un techo que aún parece bajo. Ningún candidato nominado tuvo tanto rechazo como el que exhibe ella ahora. Excepto Trump. Esto hace que muchos estadounidenses deban elegir entre votar a Clinton por miedo a Trump o votar a Trump por rechazo a Clinton. Así, no es de sorprender si lo que viene es una campaña basada en el temor. Temor a una guerra no deseada, al racismo y a la xenofobia, dirá Clinton. Temor a una mujer cuyo único mérito es ser la esposa de Bill Clinton, dirá Trump. Caricaturas de personalidades mucho más complejas que iremos viendo en su máxima expresión en los próximos días.

Clinton probablemente busque llevar a Trump al terreno de la política exterior, donde éste ha mostrado altísimas dosis de ignorancia. Por su parte, Trump buscará llevar a Clinton al terreno de las finanzas, los impuestos y la política económica. Como sea, lo más intenso de la carrera electoral está por venir. Clinton necesita aumentar su popularidad entre jóvenes educados y trabajadores de bajos recursos. Trump necesita captar el voto de los más educados. No hay euforia por ningún candidato. Hay sorpresa y temor. Como me dijo el taxista camino al aeropuerto: "Clinton es la peor candidata. Con la excepción de Trump".

Lydia Jenkin takes to the waters off the Whitsundays.- Queensland: Miles of isles

Lydia Jenkin takes to the waters off the Whitsundays.

If you like sea turtles and snorkelling, islands and adventures, and sipping a gin and tonic as the water laps gently around you then bareboating in the Whitsundays could be for you.

Bareboating is hiring a yacht, catamaran, or launch and heading off on a high-seas adventure, with yourself as skipper, and your friends and family as crew, even if you have no kind of boat licence or don't own a boat.

There's a thorough briefing and a few tests in the harbour to make sure you have things under control but, once they feel you have the general idea and you've proven you have some sailing experience, the boat is yours to sail away in. You choose your route, anchorages and desired locations, and you have the freedom to change plans as you go.

And what better place than the Whitsundays - an island-strewn tropical paradise north of Queensland on Australia's east coast that is the gateway to the Great Barrier Reef.

Many of the 74 islands are unoccupied and surprisingly lush - it feels like a cross between the Bay of Islands and Cook Islands, with towering tree-lined ridges and cliffs, long white beaches and huge mangroves growing out of long, winding, Amazonian-like inlets.

My captain and I set off on a four-day cruise from Airlie Beach on a shiny Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 44i. The 45-foot boat sleeps three couples, has two bathrooms, a large saloon, and a nice roomy cockpit with two steering positions. The boat had been stocked up by Whitsundays Provisioning (highly recommended) so with our briefing all done, we set off for Nara Inlet on the south side of Hook Island.

It looked a lovely, sheltered spot, and the comprehensive guide book mentioned some Aboriginal cave paintings and a possible waterfall adventure, so we were sold.

Nick the captain, helming the yacht in the Whitsundays. Photo / Lydia Jenkins

We had a fantastic evening exploring the inlet in our little inflatable tender. When we found the waterfall we tapped into our inner Indiana Jones, and clambered up the pools and ledges to find the cool, fresh water, a luxury in the tropical heat.

Later we followed a few friendly bats up the stone steps to see the Aboriginal cave paintings. The sun had set by the time we reached them, but checking out the fascinating paintings in the dark with torches made it more atmospheric.

The next day we set off for the famous Whitehaven Beach, beloved for its luminous white sand and green hills. Climbing to the Hill Inlet lookout north of the beach gives you a great view and the turquoise blue waters are tempting. But it's also popular so, once we'd said hello to a couple of friendly sea turtles, we headed for a quieter spot: Cid Harbour, another lush, rainforest-like cove, with rampant bird life and beautiful deep clear water in close to the shore.

We jumped in the tender again and went for a cruise at dusk up a slightly swampy river, surrounded by towering mangroves. We waited with bated breath to see any kind of crocodile, but the only creatures we disturbed were stingrays, turtles, and the odd fish.

Again the feeling of wilderness was unexpectedly strong. Being somewhere so untouched, so rugged and free, and still having the comfort of a soft bed and cold beers in a fridge only metres away was delightful.

And that is the greatest charm of bareboating in the Whitsundays. It feels like a proper adventure but it's also surprisingly easy and relaxed.

Getting there: You can fly from Auckland to Airlie Beach or Hamilton Island in the Whitsundays via Brisbane or Sydney. Daily options are available through Air New Zealand.

Candidate.-Hillary and Trump, two intensely disliked candidates, begin their face-off

Hilary Clinton is likely to be the Democratic candidate running against Donald Trump for the presidency. Photos / Getty Images

In the end, it was the voters of Indiana last week who effectively gave the country the outcome that had loomed for months. The 2016 election will likely put Hillary Clinton, who is disliked by a majority of voters, against Donald Trump, disliked by another and more intense majority of voters.

If the rise of Trump has no obvious precedent, neither does an election like this. Clinton, whose buoyant favorable ratings in the State Department convinced some Democrats that she could win easily, is now viewed as unfavorably as George W. Bush was in his close 2004 reelection bid. Trump is even less liked, with negative ratings among nonwhite voters not seen since the 1964 campaign of Barry Goldwater.

"In the history of polling, we've basically never had a candidate viewed negatively by half of the electorate," wrote Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Nebraska, in a widely shared note that asked someone, anyone, to mount a third-party run.

"There are dumpster fires in my town more popular than these two 'leaders.' "

You wouldn't know it from talking to each candidates' supporters, who see only one reality -- they hate the other choice -- and who seem oblivious that much of the nation is defining this election by watching with dismay and deciding whether to bother to participate.

"Everybody likes her," said Pamela Hatwood, 51, a nurse on disability who was fanning herself with an extra Clinton sign in a sweltering gym in Indianapolis last week -- one of many supporters who shrugged off questions about whether Clinton's appeal was too narrow.

"I think she's such a strong woman that people get afraid," said Stephen Yanusheskhy, 40, a health-insurance salesman. "I'm not worried about the polls. They're good one week; they're bad the next week. I feel like they poll the people they want to get a certain result. But once she actually gets the nomination, people will come out in droves. You'll see more involvement from the gay community, from women and from people of color."

Trump is a big motivator for these voters. Clinton's crowd was never as rapt as when she asked how embarrassing it was to see violence break out at Trump rallies.

"You see it on TV, and you assume it's some place far away, don't you?" she said. "You hear this hateful talk about women and you want to say: Enough, enough! That's not who we are."

A few hours later, up the highway in Fort Wayne, thousands of voters decided differently. Yes, this was who they were: They were Trump voters. And none of them could look around the room, an arena packed as if a top-40 band was playing it, and imagine that Trump was unpopular. Corey Fuller, 41, voted for Barack Obama in 2008, one of the optimists who helped him win Indiana.

"When he first announced, I kind of rolled my eyes, too," Fuller admitted about Trump. "But I got it soon enough. I don't worry about him losing, but I worry about the establishment trying to steal it from him, and that's sad. I joined the Republican Party this year for this."

From the stage, Trump meandered his way toward a discussion of why he could win. He has spoken more about poll numbers, in his set speeches, than any candidate in the same position. He tends to focus on the numbers that show him competitive -- and to ignore completely the ones that show him to be the least-popular candidate to win a party nomination.

"I won every debate," Trump said. "I started off at 4 [percent], and they all said: 'Well, that is his plateau. He won't go higher.' " Trump's imitation of a pundit was stuffy and nasal, like some forgotten French king ordering a fresh pillow. "The next week, I went to 8. Then I went to 12. Then I went to 18. Then I went to 20. And every week, these idiots said, 'That is his plateau!' Then I went to 68!"

For many of those listening to him that day, the idea of Trump losing an election was preposterous. Republicans who have nervously studied the party's future worry that Trump is too alienating to women and nonwhite voters to even get close to victory. Another untested theory is that his support can be so robust from white voters -- who have steadily trended Republican -- that he can capitalize on Clinton's unfavorable numbers and win.

The last open election for the White House felt bitter at times. It was not half as bitter as this. In exit polls from November 2008, just 24 percent of voters said they would be "scared" if Barack Obama won the election; just 28 percent said the same of his rival, Sen. John McCain of Arizona. Both candidates were viewed favorably. When asked how they would have voted had Clinton won the Democratic nomination, they said they would have picked her, by 11 points.

Clinton's strategy assumes that she has lost voters' esteem since then. Even before the unexpectedly stiff challenge of Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont -- who, supporters point out, polls better than she -- the former secretary of state was building a campaign that could grind out majorities in swing states and maximize the growing nonwhite vote.

Eight years ago, both she and Obama campaigned on "clean coal." This year, famously, she has said that "we've got to move away from coal" and put "a lot of coal miners and coal companies out of business" as the economy gets greener. (Sanders has roughly the same position but has not received the same backlash.)

Eight years ago, she won Indiana in the primary; Obama became the first Democrat in 44 years to carry it in the general election.

Indiana ended the campaign of Trump's last serious rival, Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, another candidate who was navigating soaring unfavorable ratings. In his final days, Cruz regularly made four or five campaign stops, out-hustling every other candidate, silently aware that his poll numbers were not recovering.

At Cruz's rallies, his supporters insisted that his unfavorable ratings, past 50 percent, were a result of the candidate's media coverage.

"You can actually poll somebody and get the result that you want," said Joe Stack, 37, who had backed Cruz since his 2012 campaign for Senate and drove an hour to see him in La Porte. "Maybe in the Hillary Clinton camp, he's unpopular. Maybe among some of these other Republicans like John Boehner -- they're not going to like him, because he's a principled guy. The perception is that he's unpopular, but people perceive what they're told in the media."

At a larger rally in Fort Wayne, Mary Lynn Hamrick, 46, showed up in a shirt that the tea party group FreedomWorks had given her. It was ridiculous, she said, that Cruz was portrayed as an extremist. The current president had earned that status, because a permanent class of agitators, the class that produced him, was determined not to allow the country to enjoy peace.

"Look at what went on at the Trump rallies just this week. They were the socialists, the communists, NARAL, Occupy Wall Street. Those people are going to exist, and a lot of them are paid protesters."

The irony, which Hamrick and Cruz would learn one day later, was that the "socialists" would cross the finish line and Cruz would not. Sanders won Indiana, helped in many primaries by the ability of independent voters to cross into the Democratic primary. Hillary Clinton won Democratic votes by 6 points; Sanders won independents by 44 points.

The night he won Indiana, Sanders rallied in Louisville, the biggest city in a state that had given Clinton one of her biggest 2008 primary landslides. The Sanders rally took up the larger portion of a park on the Ohio River, with Indiana in the distance, and he got applause for a carbon tax, a tax on stock transactions and a condemnation of the media that had called his candidacy fringe.

"The establishment, the big-money interests, corporate media and all the rest want you to believe that change is not possible," Sanders said.

Within 24 hours, with both Cruz and Ohio Gov. John Kasich out, the socialist from Vermont was the only candidate for president not disliked by a majority of voters.

Australian director George Miller.-'Mad Max' creator Miller rides into Cannes on top of the world....

Sydney - Australian director George Miller is at a highpoint in a masterful career. His "Mad Max: Fury Road" won a swag of awards, adding to a long list of acclaimed movies, and this week he will bask in the glory of presiding over the Cannes film festival jury.

Even missing out on the best director gong at this year's Oscars, won by Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu for "The Revenant", could not take the gloss off the success of the latest of his post-apocalyptic "Mad Max" action movies, released last year.

"You'd be a fool to be disappointed when we did so well," the 71-year-old director told The Sydney Morning Herald on returning to the city in March after the movie won six Academy Awards and four British Baftas.

As a writer, director and producer Miller is a pioneer of Australian cinema -- with a career that runs from the original 1979 "Mad Max" starring a young, leather-clad Mel Gibson, to "Babe" and the feel-good animated classic "Happy Feet" in 2006.

Miller was part of a renaissance of Australian cinema in the 1980s which included Peter Weir ("Dead Poets Society", "The Truman Show"), Bruce Beresford ("Driving Miss Daisy") and Phillip Noyce ("Patriot Games", "Salt").

But his career in cinema was not always assured, with Miller at first setting out to be a doctor, and working in the medical profession for a time.

He has said that working as an emergency doctor, and seeing "the kind of carnage as a result of car accidents or bike accidents", affected him deeply and went on to influence his violent "Mad Max" movies.

"It kind of disturbed me quite a bit. And I think all those things were part of the mix of the 'Mad Max' films," he told Australian Screen Online in a 2006 interview.

- 'A singular vision' -

After the original smash hit, Miller went on to make "Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior" (1981) and "Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome" (1985), but "Fury Road" was a long time coming.

In the meantime, he produced the coming-of-age film "The Year My Voice Broke" (1987) and the thriller "Dead Calm" (1989) -- which launched his compatriot Nicole Kidman on the world -- as well as Australian television series such as "Vietnam" and "Bodyline".

He has a string of acclaimed films to his credit including the fantasy comedy "The Witches of Eastwick" (1986) and the heart-tugging drama "Lorenzo's Oil" (1992), as well as winning an Oscar for the animated feature "Happy Feet".

Close on 40 years after he launched the "Mad Max" series, Miller is enjoying the lasting appeal of the frantic action films which have been praised for reconciling mass audience expectations with the highest artistic standards.

David White, who won an Oscar for sound editing on the movie, has praised Miller's ability to bring his vision to the screen, despite the difficult logistics of producing frenetic action.

The film also faced other setbacks, including Mel Gibson dropping out, making way for the younger Tom Hardy, and shifting the filming from the Australian desert to Namibia.

"There's probably less than a handful of people in the world like George," White told the Herald earlier this year, adding that he was "the smartest person I've ever met".

"This guy has had a singular vision to do this film."

Miller has two children with wife and film editor Margaret Sixel and an older daughter from a previous relationship.

The Cannes film festival starts on Wednesday and runs until May 22.