Obama cuts Spain visit to just 21 hours following Dallas shooting
Monday, July 11, 2016 @ 12:11 AM
PRESIDENT of the United States Barack Obama is now on Spanish soil, having arrived at 23.00hrs last night (Saturday) - but he will barely be in the country for 24 hours before returning home.
The USA head of State has cut his keenly-awaited visit short in light of the Dallas shoot-out, meaning he will no longer travel to Sevilla, as planned.
He will only have time to meet with King Felipe VI, acting president Mariano Rajoy, and the other main party leaders Pedro Sánchez (PSOE, or socialists); Pablo Iglesias (left-wing independents Unidos Podemos), and Albert Rivera (centre-right independents Ciudadanos).
Then, after paying a visit to US troops at the air base in Rota (Cádiz province, southern Spain), Obama will get back on the plane home at 20.00hrs tonight.
The Spain trip, which Obama had been looking forward to, was due to take three days, but after five white police officers were shot dead by an Afro-American as a revenge attack in light of a number of black men being killed by white officers, Obama is needed back on home turf as soon as possible.
As a result, Obama's timetable will be very tight today - a 10.30hrs reception and early lunch with around 100 guests hosted by King Felipe, followed by a 14.00hrs meeting with Rajoy in the Moncloa Palace - Spain's answer to the White House - and a 15.00hrs meeting with Sánchez, Iglesias and Rivera at Torrejón de Ardoz air base in Madrid, where he landed last night.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com