Spain's Defense Minister reviews the troops

Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacón conducting her first review of the troops, accompanied by outgoing Defense Minister José Antonio Alonso

Por primera vez una mujer, una ministra y una embarazada ha pasado revista a las tropas. La imagen se guardará en la retina de la Historia española como un hito. La recién estrenada ministra de Defensa, Carme Chacón, ha realizado su primer acto como tal frente a la cúpula militar, encabezada por el jefe del Estado Mayor de la Defensa, Félix Sanz Roldán. - Las tropas se ponen firmes por primera vez ante una ministra El Mundo 14-04-08

[For the first time, a woman, a female Minister and someone who's pregnant reviewed the troop. The image will stand as a milestone in the retina of Spanish history. The recently announced Minister of Defense, Carme Chacón, made her first act in her new role before the military leadership, headed by the Senior Chief of State for Defense, Félix Sanz Roldán.]

Not surprisingly, Chacón's appointment met with some criticism. But outgoing Defense Minister José Antonio Alonso defended her appointment as "absolutely normal", reminding the critics that Norway and the Czech Republic also have female Ministers of Defense.

The 37-year-old Chacón has described herself politically as "green on the outside, red on the inside". By which she presumably means that she's modern and environmentally minded and also a staunchly pro-labor Socialist. (For those accustomed only to the American political vocabulary, "socialist" in most of the world is not a synonym for "bad", as it is in American politics.)

Tags: carme chacón, españa, spain