Spain: A Spanish general has been placed under house arrest and will be dismissed from his post for breaking the military code of political neutrality after making inflammatory remarks about the stability of Spain.
At a military parade in Seville on Friday, Lieut Gen José Mena, chief of land forces, warned of a military intervention if the parliament approved the proposed statute for constitutional reforms which would grant greater autonomy to Catalonia.
"It is our duty to warn of the serious consequences, both for the armed forces as a body and to the people who make it up, if the statute is approved," he said. "The constitution marks strict limits restricting any autonomy statute."
Gen Mena warned that if these limits were crossed, the military would be forced to apply article 8 of the constitution, which states: "The armed forces of land, sea and air, has the duty to intervene to guarantee the sovereignty of Spain and to defend the integrity of constitutional order."
The general's words spread rapidly and caused consternation at the annual military Christmas ceremonies, presided over by King Juan Carlos, taking place at the same time in the royal palace in Madrid.
The king also spoke of the need for reconciliation and consensus to defend the constitution. This is the third time in less than six weeks that he has used similar words warning of the potential dangers of certain constitutional reforms.
Within hours of his address, Lieut Gen Mena was summoned to Madrid by the chief of the defence staff. On Saturday morning he was informed by Gen Sanz Roldan and defence minister José Bono that he was being summarily dismissed for breaking the military code, which forbids "expressing publicly opinions which infringe the duty of neutrality in political matters".
A defence ministry official said the general was not being dismissed for his personal opinions but for breaking the neutrality duty he holds as a serving officer. He has been placed under house arrest until Mr Bono receives approval at next Friday's cabinet meeting, when it will almost certainly agree to removing him from the ranks of serving officers.
This is the first time since democracy was restored after the death of Gen Franco in 1975 that an order for house arrest has been placed on a serving general. It is also the most serious case of military indiscipline by a senior officer since the attempted coup d'état when civil guard officers invaded parliament and held deputies hostage in February 1981.
The speedy and exemplary punishment handed out to Gen Mena has been welcomed by all political parties, although the opposition Popular Party (PP) has been criticised for taking 24 hours to do so and even appeared at first to approve of the general's comments. Gabriel Elorriaga, the PP spokesman, said on Friday that he considered the punishment "inevitable, reflecting the political situation".
However, he changed his tone on Saturday, saying: "The role of a senior officer is not to make statements on political projects currently being debated in the Cortes [ parliament]."