Russia's most important international TV channel, RT, has launched a series of documentaries exposing the dark side of Spain's institutions. The first report released focuses on the Spanish army and, as explained in first-person testimonies, tells the story of members of the armed forces who have been removed from their posts after accidents that have left them with health problems. All describe the Spanish armed forces in bitter terms, referring to the army as "a mafia", "fraudulent" and having "a huge ability to abandon you when you are no longer useful to them."
One of the nightmarish cases included in the RT documentary is that of Ivan Ramos, a member of the Spanish Legion who narrowly escaped death in Afghanistan in 2011, in an accident that caused him to lose a kidney, spleen and break 17 bones. With a disability assessment rating of 80%, the army only acknowledged his loss of normal abilities at 24%. Now, he has got used to living with pain and after a court litigation and constant appeals to Spain's Social Security system, he has finally been acknowledged as being fully disabled eight years later. Ramos says he was "silenced and isolated" during this long period in which, as a consequence of his low initial assessment, he received no financial compensation.
The Russian television channel states that both the Spanish government and the armed forces refused requests to give their version of what happened. However, military statistics and data available are revealing. According to the Spanish defence ministry, a total of 8,400 military personnel age under 65 were expelled from the armed forces up till 2017. As well, the criteria used for establishing the seriousness of injuries differ drastically between civil and military administrations. On average, a disability rating made by the civil Social Security system is three times higher than that granted by the Military Medical Tribunal.
For three years now, an Office of Disability Assistance for the Armed Forces has existed to address problems in the area and, recently, acting defence minister Margarita Robles apologized to all the military personnel affected. But public intentions are one thing, and the reality seems to be another.